


Watch The Moon Disappear

by Strawberrywaltz



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: AU, Animal Transformation, Chase Is Cursed, Chase Needs a Hug, Chase Whump, Chiley, During Series, Friendship, I have too much time on my hands, M/M, Not a werewolf, Pre-Series, Secrets are Bad, Slow Burn, angst with fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-03-28 18:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 51,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13910082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberrywaltz/pseuds/Strawberrywaltz
Summary: “It chose you.” The woman said slowly and set the box aside. “You have been touched by magic before.” She said slowly and frowned and held her hands over Chase’s heart. “Dark magic, such sorrow.”Chase’s eyes widened and he stared at the woman. “How did you – how do you know that?” He swallowed thickly and felt his heart crack under the weight of hope building inside of him. “Can you undo it? The curse?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> In later chapters I sometimes quote directly from episodes, mostly just to recap something that's happened in the show to tie it in with the story...I don't mean to infringe or anything. I'm not doing this for profit, just for fun. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! This is a lot of fun to write and hopefully fun to read!

Chase is ten the first time it happens. It hurt like growing pains. One minute he was a human boy, the next he was on four paws and staring up at his horrified mother. They stared at one another in silence. The only sounds Chase remembered hearing were the clock ticking on the wall and his own rapid heart beat. 

Once the confusion and horror faded from his mother’s face, she shrieked and used the broom she had been holding to push Chase into the coat closet. The door slammed shut too fast for Chase to process what had happened. It was dark, but Chase was smart enough to stay quiet.

Hours passed. 

“Chase,” his father called as he cracked the door of the closet open and took in the sight of his son. Chase was worried, but not overly afraid. He knew it wasn’t normal to suddenly have fur, pointy ears and a tail, but he also wasn’t fully convinced he wasn’t dreaming. He was ten and always had a wild imagination. 

His father looked down on him with pity. “I am so sorry.” He said and reached out a hand to Chase, but withdrew it before his fingers could brush against Chase’s black fur. “You have to go now, do you understand?” 

Chase didn’t understand. He understood the words, but he wasn’t sure why his father was kicking him out. 

It had to be part of the nightmare. 

“Go.” His father insisted sternly and stepped aside as he pointed towards the open front door. 

Timidly Chase crawled forward, his tail tucked between his legs as he looked up at his father expectantly. Surely his father would change his mind? It had to be a bad joke or a misunderstanding. A loud noise cracked and Chase jumped and slipped on the linoleum floor. He hit snout first into the ground. 

A broom whacked down at him dangerously and Chase fought to get his paws under him as he scrambled up and towards the door. 

He ran. The wind felt good in his fur as he bolted towards the tree line. Only when he had ducked into some thick bushes did he risk looking back at his home. The home he was no longer welcome in. 

It took three days for Chase to finally realize he wasn’t dreaming. 

It took a month for him to return to his human form. The process was about the same as it had been when he turned into a wolf. One minute he felt achy and the next he was a naked human boy sitting alone in the middle of the woods. 

Chase managed to steal some clothes from a secluded home near the woods. The woman’s child had been about his size and although Chase felt guilty for taking what didn’t belong to him, he was excited to go home. 

Walking around without shoes was far more painful as a human child compared to a wolf pup. Chase learned a lot as a wolf. He had to learn quick in order to survive. He had been rather unsuccessful at hunting. His too big paws were clumsy and he lacked the training a normal wolf pup would receive from their pack. Chase relied on his natural born cleverness to survive. He ate road kill, which was gross, but strangely satisfying in the long run. His wolf body craved the bloody meat, even if the human inside loathed it. 

“Never doing that again.” Chase muttered as he walked up to his childhood home. He’d been away a month and he wondered what kind of a greeting he would receive. Would he be rejected again? Hesitantly he raised his closed fist and knocked gently on the wood. 

The door opened and his mother stared. “Ch-Chase?” She whispered and as the shock wore off she wrapped him up in a tight hug. 

Chase felt tears burn in his eyes as he gripped his mother back as tightly as possible. “I missed you so much.” He told his mother wetly as she rocked him close. 

They didn’t talk about his time as a wolf. His father returned from work and greeted Chase with a sweeping hug and laughs of pure joy. The reunion was sweet. His mother made all of his favorite foods and his father cuddled him close and whispered feverish apologies and promises that everything would be okay again. 

Except it wasn’t okay. 

The full moon cycle ended and Chase woke up as a wolf again. His mother cried and buried her face into his father’s shoulder as his father stared at him with pity in his eyes. 

Chase watched with his dark ears flat against his head, nose buried in the comforter on his bed. He knew in his heart that he would be kicked out again. He desperately clung to the hope that he was wrong. 

“We can’t send him back out there.” His mother pleaded. “He’s still our son.” 

“Dear, look at him,” Chase’s father said and pointed towards the wolf pup on their son’s bed. “He doesn’t belong here. He’s an animal. A wild animal that has no business living with us.” 

“But he’ll change back again.” His mother pleaded. “We just have to wait.” 

“He’s not human anymore.” Chase heard his father whisper. Chase’s hearing was better as a wolf, but Chase hated the gift passionately. He whimpered a little as he got off the bed and tucked his tail between his legs as he watched his parents move out of fear. His father held his mother close and positioned himself in front of her to protect her from Chase. 

It was then that Chase realized that he had no home to come back to. His parents were afraid of him. Chase didn’t belong. Not as a human. Not as a wolf. 

Chase ran for the woods. 

__

As the months passed Chase fell into a routine of sorts. He spent the majority of the month teaching himself to hunt and hide. He found new ways to entertain himself in his wolf body and kept himself occupied. It was lonely and he missed his mother and father, but he tried to stay positive. 

Once a month he would turn back into a human for four days, during the full moon cycle. During those days Chase would hunt himself down human clothes and alternate his time spying on his family from afar and attempting to do research on his current condition. 

He wasn’t a werewolf. Chase was pretty certain of that fact. Werewolves turned during the full moon, but Chase turned human during that time. Being a werewolf didn’t track. Chase also had no problem with silver. He had stolen a silver knife and cut himself to be sure. Other than some blood and a little bit of pain, Chase had been fine.

No, he wasn’t a werewolf, but Chase still had no idea what he was or why this was happening to him. 

Just after Chase had turned thirteen he decided it was time to confront his father. He hadn’t been able to find any answers himself and he couldn’t help but think his father knew something. 

As a wolf he had become much stronger and faster than he had been during his first year. He no longer had to resort to eating road kill. Chase could successfully hunt squirrels and rabbits with mostly grace and ease. 

It was when he was a human boy that Chase tended to struggle. Raw meat made Chase sick as a human. He resorted to stealing scraps from dumpsters behind restaurants when he wasn’t trying to figure out what was happening to him. 

With much trepidation, Chase decided to consult his father. He waited until his father was alone before he approached the house. 

“Chase.” His father said after he had opened the door. “You, you look good.” 

“You,” Chase started, but his throat clenched tight. “You do too.” He managed after a moment. “I – do you know why this is happening to me?” He wanted to ask the question before his father decided to slam the door in his face. 

His father looked stricken, but he stepped aside and motioned Chase to come inside the house. 

It had once been Chase’s home. 

“Chase,” his father said sadly as they made their way to the kitchen. “I don’t know why this is happening to you.” 

Chase’s neck prickled a little as he looked at his father. “You aren’t telling the truth.” Chase realized slowly. “Dad, please? I need to know how to fix this. I want to come home.” 

“Chase,” his father breathed and shook his head. “All I know is that this wasn’t your fault, it was mine. I angered a woman who is very powerful. She promised that she would cast a spell on my family so that I would always be reminded of what I did to her. This wasn’t about you. She – she should have hurt me, not you.” 

“I’m not hurt.” Chase offered kindly. “It doesn’t hurt. I just, I want to come home. Can’t I stay here? I know it isn’t ideal, but it’s so lonely in the woods. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to reverse this, but I don’t know where to begin. Maybe together we can – ”

“You’re mother is pregnant.” His father interrupted. “We can’t risk a wolf in the house, not with a baby.” 

“I won’t hurt the baby.” Chase pleaded. “I won’t be any trouble. I can feed myself. I just want to come home!” 

“Oh, Chase.” His father held his face in his hands as he shook his head. “You can’t stop the wolf inside of you. You are a danger to us in that form. If you come back and your mother allows herself to love you, it will only hurt her to see you turn back into that-that thing.” 

“Dad.” Chase sobbed, but he knew he wouldn’t be welcomed home again. His father was kicking him out. “I – I’ll find a way to break the curse.” 

His father raised his head and sighed. “I want to help you, even if you can’t come home again. I’ll leave you clothes in the woods every full moon so you don’t have to steal.” 

“I have trouble finding food as a human.” Chase said after a moment. He felt lost and numb. His father was rejecting him even as a human, but he was offering to help. 

“I’ll leave you what I can.” His father nodded and hugged Chase despite the rejection. “I do love you, son. I wish I could take this burden from you.” 

“I’ll survive.” Chase promised. “I’ll come home someday and we’ll be a family.” 

“Only come home if you are certain it’s gone.” His father said before he pulled away. “Now go, before your mother sees you.” 

Chase lingered, but obeyed and left the house he had grown up in. He was thirteen and on his own. 

__

It took another year for Chase to give up on finding a way to reverse the curse. There was nothing he could find that worked. He wasn’t even sure how magic worked or if it could be undone. 

He left his father notes and asked him questions, but his father never responded. Every full moon there was a bag of clothing and food waiting in the woods by his childhood home, but his father refused to help him beyond that. 

Chase decided to be grateful. He no longer had to steal to survive as a human and although the clothes didn’t always fit quite right, they were his. 

He gave up on finding a way to break the curse and decided to spend his time as a human trying to be as normal as possible. He stole a skateboard and taught himself how to ride it. He hid his human treasures in the woods until the next full moon came around. He smiled and flirted and lived life for four days a month and tried to enjoy being around people, even if that time was fleeting. 

Chase was seventeen when he saved a cat from being hit by a truck. 

“Oh Tabatha, oh, you’re safe.” The woman said as she cradled her cat in her arms. Chase stared at the small feline and felt the wolf inside him salivate at the sight of the smaller animal. Chase shook his head a little and gripped his skateboard tighter as he watched the strange woman. 

“I just risked my life for,” Chase frowned and looked up at the grateful woman and closed his eyes briefly, “the most beautiful little kitty.” He smiled, although not entirely genuine. He had been nearly mowed down by many a vehicle, just never as a human. 

“Come to my shop,” The woman said as she took a hold of Chase’s arm possessively. Chase’s breath hitched at the kind touch. It was rare to be touched by another human being. He missed it. He craved it, especially during the full moon days. “There’s something I must give you for your bravery.” 

Chase was barely able to focus on her words and tried not to melt under her gentle, almost motherly touch. 

“Oh,” Chase forced the word out, “you really don’t have to do this.” He said as he glanced over his shoulder and worried that the woman might be another witch. She practically shoved him inside the shop. It was filled with all sorts of strange objects that Chase had never seen before. At least out side of the books he had read about magic and New Zealand history. 

“Such courage is rare,” the woman said as she retrieved a small thin box. “And it deserves something equally as precious.” She said as she opened the wooden lid. 

“What is it?” Chase found himself asking as he studied the strange gem inside. It was black, like his wolf-self’s fur. He felt strangely drawn to it, but he was also nervous. 

“Take it, it’s yours.” The woman said with a gentle smile that Chase was afraid of. He didn’t like to become attached to other humans. They always seemed to be a little hurt when he vanished. Chase didn’t want to hurt anyone or let them down. 

The strange gem started to glow purple as he reached for it. Chase hesitated, afraid, but with a little coaxing from the strange woman he reached out and took the gem in his hand. A rush of power shot through his fingertips. The tingling sensation spread throughout his body. It didn’t hurt, but it was a surprise. 

“It chose you.” The woman said. 

“For what?” Chase demanded, his voice a little higher than normal as he took a step back and shoved the gem back towards the woman. “Take it back!” 

“It chose you.” The woman said slowly and set the box aside. “You have been touched by magic before.” She said slowly and frowned and held her hands over Chase’s heart. “Dark magic, such sorrow.” 

Chase’s eyes widened and he stared at the woman. “How did you – how do you know that?” He swallowed thickly and felt his heart crack under the weight of hope building inside of him. “Can you undo it? The curse?” 

The woman’s eyes opened and they held only sadness. 

“You can’t.” Chase answered for her and deflated. “I – I should go.”

“No.” The woman stopped him gently. “You should stay. The gem chose you for a purpose. You shouldn’t be alone.” 

“My family is afraid of what I become.” Chase said with a shake of his head. 

“You’ve been alone too long, child.” The woman insisted. “I am Moana.” 

Chase looked at the woman and shook his head again. “It’s kind of you to care, but you don’t understand. I’m not – I’m not exactly human.” 

“You are.” Moana said. “You’ve just forgotten. This will help you. You will see. Come back to me when you believe.” 

Chase frowned and backed his way out of the shop. He couldn’t believe her, it was too much for him to bare to lose. He hated the idea of having new dreams crushed. He held onto the gem as he left the shop and jumped on his skateboard as he headed for his home – the woods. 

__

When the full moon ended Chase was still human.


	2. Chapter 2

It took three days before Chase returned to Moana’s shop. 

“You’re here!” Moana appeared and wrapped Chase into a big hug. “You see? I was right! The gem protects you now.” 

“Am I free?” Chase asked worriedly. He wanted to give into his hope, but he was afraid it would be ripped away from him. 

Moana held her breath a moment and tipped her head to the side in thought. “The wolf is still there, deep beneath the surface. Your human self will have more control, but the wolf will forever be intertwined with your destiny.” 

Chase let out the breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding and closed his eyes. He dared to dream. He wanted to go home. Moana said he’d be in control. Or at least, that’s what he wanted to believe.

“I see great adventures in your future.” Moana said as she took his hand and turned it over to better see his palm. Her fingers danced over the marks on his skin. “You will face great pain at times, but I see unshakable friendships and love.” 

“My family?” Chase asked on baited breath. 

Moana looked sad for a moment, but brightened. “You’re sister’s love will never diminish.” 

Chase’s heart clenched tightly in his chest, “I – I have a sister?” He asked and felt a smile grow on his face. He had given up spying on his family after the chat with his father. He only returned to the woods outside the house to pick up the offered clothes and food. “I can go home.” 

“Yes.” Moana nodded slowly. “But when adventure comes to call, do not resist it. You have a brighter future than even you realize.” 

Chase thanked Moana and left her shop. He went home. His father opened the door, a storm cloud of anger passed over his face before Chase could explain. 

“Get out!” His father bellowed and Chase yelped a little as he stumbled backwards down the stairs. 

“You don’t understand,” Chase tried to explain. “I’m free! I found a way to end the curse.” It wasn’t exactly the whole truth, but close enough to make his father pause. “I met a fortune teller.” Chase explained. “She gave me this,” he held up his black gem proudly. “The full moon ended days ago, don’t you see? I’m still human! I’m free.” 

“Chase.” His father whispered and looked at the stone with devastation before he pulled Chase into his arms. “My boy, you’re alive, you’ve come back.” 

Chase let himself sob as he listened to the words. He was home. He was home. 

No one could take him away. 

__

Chloe was the best person on the entire planet and Chase was thrilled to know her. She had been ecstatic to learn that her long lost brother had returned. They got along well. Better than Chase could have ever dreamed. 

Chloe had been given Chase’s old room, which was fine. The couch in the living area was far more comfortable than the hard, uneven ground out in the woods. Chase was grateful for everything he was offered and did his best to be helpful. He learned how to cook, after some trial and error and did all the cleaning. He got a job and gave all the money he made to his parents to help with the extra expenses. Part of Chase was still afraid that he would be sent away again. 

His parents were still careful around him. It took Chase a while to realize it was more about guilt than fear. Maybe there was still a little fear too. 

“I don’t blame you.” Chase said after another tense family meal. His mother looked broken as he tried to free her from the guilt she held onto so fiercely. “You did what anyone would have done. I – I wasn’t, and you, I understand. Please don’t shut me out now. I’m back and I love you.” He just wanted to be loved by them. 

“I should wash the dishes.” His mother said and turned her back on Chase. 

Chase realized why Moana seemed so sad when he had asked about his family. He would never fit in with his parents again. There was just too much damage there. 

At least he had Chloe. 

__

Two weeks after Chase bonded with the black gem a woman showed up at the coffee shop where he worked. 

“That’s an interesting necklace.” She commented as she adjusted her glasses. “May I see it?” 

Chase grabbed the stone protectively and shoved it under his shirt and out of sight. “No.” Chase answered as he eyed the woman with cautious suspicion. “It’s important to me.” Chase told her and shot a glance at his coworkers. They picked up on his unease and one swept over to them with a smile. 

“Hi, I’m Charity, is there something I can get you?” Charity asked and gave Chase the opportunity to escape. 

Unfortunately that wasn’t the last time he saw the girl with the glasses. She showed up everywhere until Chase couldn’t avoid her any longer. 

“I’m not giving you my stone.” Chase said bluntly. He felt the wolf inside of him growl a little, but shoved the animal back down. Chase was human. Chase was in control. 

“I – I wasn’t going to take it.” The woman said, flustered. “You,” she sighed, closed her eyes and regained her composure. “I’m a scientist. I’ve been studying stones like yours for a while now. If I’m right, that stone, the energem, has fused to your DNA. I wouldn’t be able to use it without you.” 

Chase frowned and took a step back from the woman. He wanted to run, but Moana’s words came back to him in a whisper. 

Adventure. 

Friendship. 

Freedom. 

“An energem?” Chase repeated slowly. Given that he had spent the last several years of his life living as a wolf, his mind was fairly open. 

The woman brightened a little and tried to explain. “I believe they hold great power. No, I know they do. I would like to prove it to you, but, uh, we’re going to need to go somewhere less public.” She looked around nervously. 

Chase frowned, but slowly nodded. The woman was small and unless she was armed, he thought he could take her, or at least run faster, if she tried to attack him. 

They went into the woods. Chase was familiar with the area, although he hadn’t ventured into the woods since before he had bonded with the gem. It felt oddly like coming home, but Chase didn’t want to dwell on that. He was human. The woods were not his home anymore. 

“Hold this.” The woman said and handed Chase a strange looking cylinder device. It had what appeared to be a dinosaur on it and the number two. Mostly it was just shinny and silver. 

“Press it.” She encouraged. 

Chase held the device in his hand for a second before he got the nerve up to press down on it. Within moments he had transformed, but not into his wolf-body, but into – armor? 

“What the heck?” Chase asked as he eyed his arms and felt the helmet over his head. 

“I knew it!” Glasses said as she fist pumped the air. She looked ten years younger as she did a little victory dance and grinned at him. 

“Knew what?” Chase asked. He felt slightly panicked and wondered if he was stuck in the armor for the next month. 

“You are a power ranger.” Glasses explained. “I’m Kendall Morgan. Keeper is going to want to talk with you. Oh, do you have a passport? We’re going to need to get you one, and a visa. I bet I could get you a work visa if I got you a job in the café. This will work! I can’t believe I found you. This is amazing!” 

“What are you talking about?” Chase asked, panicked as he tried to pull the armor off. 

“Oh, you can de-morph,” Kendall said and gave a vague description on how he was supposed to ‘de-morph’ but it worked and Chase was glad. Once he was ‘human’ again he stared at the little silver cylinder and quickly pushed it back towards Glasses, Kendall, who took it from him gently. 

“So, what exactly does this all mean?” Chase asked as he stared at the little device in her hand. 

“I’ll explain everything.” Kendall promised. “But, first, will you promise to at least think about coming with me? To the United States, Amber Beach, to be exact.” 

Chase frowned, but nodded slowly. “I – I’ll go.”

“You will?” Kendall’s eyes lit up. “This is wonderful! You won’t regret it. Let me tell you everything I know.” 

__

Kendall was great, even if she babied Chase a little. She was like a big sister in many ways. It was actually kind of nice to have someone worry about him. Kendall was supportive and helped Chase adapt to a new place and job. 

Amber Beach was an okay place. Chase missed his little sister, but they communicated as often as possible. Chase’s parents rarely talked to him, but he figured it might be better if they didn’t. When he had told them he was leaving they had looked relieved. It had stung more than Chase wanted to admit. 

Their guilt hurt his heart in ways he couldn’t quite explain. It was his fault, but at the same time it wasn’t. Chase was confused and he didn’t see time making anything any clearer for him. 

“I think I know where the blue energem is.” Kendall announced in their secret lab. It was all very exciting. Chase enjoyed the ride and took the opportunity to really experience life as a full-blown human. 

Kendall and Chase climbed a mountain together to find the blue energem and discovered a man trapped in a block of ice. 

“That’s incredible.” Kendall breathed as she stared at the man trapped in the ice. 

Chase, who had the wolf to thank for his better eyesight, pointed to the blue shimmer lodged in the caveman’s hand. “Is that the energem?” He asked. 

“I think so,” Kendall squinted and glanced curiously at Chase. “How did you spot that?” 

“Just lucky, I guess.” Chase shrugged and jumped when something crashed behind them. 

“The blue energem!” A creature said as it came into view. “And the black energem.” The large cat-beast laughed. “It must be my lucky day!” 

“Chase!” Kendall screeched and shoved Chase towards the monster. Chase looked back at her in surprise at her betrayal, but quickly remembered his morpher. He was the power ranger, Kendall, and all of her infinite wisdom, was still a civilian. This was his fight, not hers. 

This was Chase’s chance to thank Kendall for everything she had done for him. 

Chase fumbled and pulled the cylinder object out of his pocket and held it up just as the cat-thing charged. With a yelp Chase dodged the pointy sword-thing and pressed down on the morpher. 

He transformed and twirled the blaster in his hand. “I don’t know what you are, mate, but you need some serious help with your anger management issues. This is not how you win friends and influence people.” 

The creature roared and attacked Chase who fired a few blasts into the creature’s chest. The blasts did little more than further anger the cat-creature. 

“Try to summon your sword!” Kendall coached from behind the block of ice. 

“Right.” Chase said, distracted enough to miss dodging the cat-things attack. The sword hit him in the chest and sent him flying back into the cave wall. Chase groaned and somehow figured out how to summon his sword and pushed himself up to block another furious attack. 

“The energems belong to me!” The furious feline shouted in Chase’s face as they crossed blades. 

“I don’t think they got that memo.” Chase responded as he pushed back and slashed at the cat with the blade. The hit landed and the cat-tiger-thing flew back against the cave wall. The cavern shook with the force and the cat thing looked up at the ceiling of the cave with trepidation. 

“I’ll get those energems,” the cat-tiger shouted. “Someday!” He waved his sword and vanished into thin air. 

Chase continued to stand there clutching his sword until Kendall touched his arm. He jumped and turned to face her, both of them looked surprised and a little afraid. 

“Are you okay?” Kendall asked worriedly. 

“Uh,” Chase tried to relax a little and his sword vanished as he de-morphed. “Sure.” His chest ached from where he had been struck, but nothing was broken or bleeding. “The armor protected me, I think.” 

“You think?” Kendall’s eyes narrowed and she tried to lift Chase’s shirt up to see if there was any damaged. “You’re bruised!” 

“It’s not that bad,” Chase batted her hands away. “At least buy me dinner first!” 

Kendall huffed a little, but let go of Chase’s shirt and stared at him. “I think that was Fury. Keeper mentioned that he might still be alive. I'm glad you were here, I wouldn't have been able to stop him alone.” 

“Furry?” Chase blinked. “That cat-creature’s name is actually Furry? Talk about a – ”

“Fury!” Kendall interrupted loudly. “Not Furry.” She sighed and looked back at the frozen caveman and sighed again. “We need to get him back to the lab and figure out how to get the energem free. Keeper will tell you all about Fury, I promise.” 

Chase nodded and shook his hands out a little. He felt weirdly excited after the battle. He had won, somehow, and it felt good. The wolf inside of him was pleased. 

__

It took some doing, but they managed to move the cage of ice to the lab to study the human and gem inside. 

“Wait,” Chase breathed as he studied the frozen form of the man. “You think he’s alive?” Chase asked worriedly as he held his blaster in his hands. “And you want me to shoot him?” 

“It won’t hurt him.” Kendall promised. “It will free him. I reprogrammed your blaster. With this new charger you should be able to free him without hurting him at all.” 

Chase looked at the man, he was about his age and his expression was terrified. Chase shook his head and thought about his first few years as a wolf and how he struggled to survive. 

No one deserved to be trapped and alone. Chase needed to free the man in the ice. He had to try. 

Carefully he aimed the blaster at the block of ice and squeezed the trigger.   
__

Koda was afraid of pretty much everything, but he and Chase were inseparable. Moana had been right, Chase already felt closer to Koda and Kendall than he did his parents. They didn’t make him feel guilty or less than human. It was wonderful. 

“Koda, you’ve got to try this.” Chase grinned and passed Koda a bag of food. “I think I’ve perfected the burgers in the café. If I do say so myself.” He bragged.

Koda unwrapped the bag excitedly and inhaled the sweet scent of cooked meat deep into his nose. “Smell good.” Koda said before he devoured the hamburger greedily. “Tastes good.” Koda praised with his mouth still full of burger bits. 

“Good to know I have job security.” Chase laughed and glanced up as Kendall joined them, her nose in her tablet. “What’s up?” He asked curiously. 

“I think I’ve found the pink energem.” She said without looking up from the data she was reading on the tablet. “We should check this out.” She looked up at Koda and smiled gently. “You don’t have to go with us, Koda, if you aren’t ready.” 

“Want to help.” Koda said with a firm nod. His English was a work in progress, but he picked things up quickly. Keeper had done something to Koda to help him understand Chase and Kendall. What he couldn’t say through so many words he could express in other ways. Chase liked that about Koda. It felt familiar. Chase knew what it was like to not be able to say anything to anyone for a long, long time. He hoped to help Koda through it all. 

“It’ll be fun.” Chase grinned and clapped his hand on Koda’s bare shoulder. Koda didn’t like to wear shoes, or clothes with sleeves yet. He preferred shorts, even when it was a little cold out, not that it ever got too cold in Amber Beach. 

Koda was awesome, Chase grinned as the two of them helped load some of Kendall’s equipment. He was like the brother Chase had never had. 

Chase stood, but quickly regretted the fast motion as the world spun wildly. “Whoa.” He said as he grabbed onto Koda who looked a little worried. 

“Chase okay?” Koda asked. 

“Yeah,” Chase blinked and the world righted itself. “Yep. Just stood up too quickly.” He grinned a disarming grin at Koda and Kendall and clapped his hands together. “Let’s go find ourselves an energem!” 

__

They had been following Kendall through the woods when the earth sank underneath them. There was a scream, the sound of destruction and then blackness.


	3. Chapter 3

“Chase?” A voice echoed in his ringing ears. Chase let out a soft groan and turned his head to stare into the dark around him. There was a faint glow just big enough to scare away the shadows above him. “Thank goodness.” Kendall breathed, her gentle hand a cool presence on the side of Chase’s face. 

“Koda?” Chase croaked and immediately fell into a coughing fit. His throat hurt. His body hurt. Even through the clouded dust Chase could smell Koda nearby. The thought of smelling his friend was an odd one and Chase wondered if he had hit his head harder than he had thought. 

“I okay.” Koda appeared over Chase. He leaned over on Chase’s other side, a bright light in hand. A torch. Chase’s sluggish brain supplied as he looked up into the flames as they danced and flickered. It was bright. It hurt his sensitive eyes. Beyond everything was a large hole in the ceiling of their cave like trap. 

“We fell into a mine shaft.” Kendall explained calmly. She had a large scrape on her right cheek. It was covered in dry blood. Chase could smell the cooper on the air. He winced and tried to shake his head clear. Chase wondered how long he had been unconscious. The stars were alight in the otherwise black sky. “You’ve been in and out for hours.” 

“Head hurts.” Chase admitted and slowly tried to take stock of the rest of his body. He was sore and was likely sporting a rather impressive bruise on his left side, but nothing was broken or too badly damaged. “Feel kind of sick.” Chase admitted after a failed attempt to sit up. 

“Don’t push anything.” Kendall said sternly. She was worried. Terrified. Chase appreciated her so much he wanted to hug her. He didn’t. Mostly because he was afraid that if he hugged Kendall he’d end up throwing up on her. “Just lay still.” 

“I hurt knee.” Koda said with a look of defeat in his eyes. “Can’t help.” 

“I’ll search the area again.” Kendall promised both of them. “I got us into this mess, I’ll get us out. We’re all going to be okay.” 

“No worries.” Chase told her as she disappeared. 

Koda frowned at Chase. “Yes worries.” He said stubbornly and Chase laughed lightly, but regretted it when his vision swam and his head throbbed. He coughed again and tried to remember the last time he felt this sick. It was probably when he was ten and thought that road kill would be a good idea for a homeless ten-year-old boy to eat.

The memory made him groan and his stomach lurched. Chase rolled over just in time to empty a small puddle of bile and half-digested burger on the cave’s floor. 

“Chase sick.” Koda said worriedly as he helped hold Chase up so he didn’t end up doing a face plant in his pile of vomit. 

“My head isn’t happy with me.” Chase tried to explain as he let Koda manhandle him to the cave wall. It felt cool against his flushed body. He was warm and he ached. 

“It’s too dark to do anything tonight.” Kendall returned with a sigh. She spotted the puddle Chase had created and turned to him worriedly. “I need to check you for a concussion, although I’m pretty sure I have the answer already.” 

Chase nodded and sat through her tests as alertly as he could muster. Kendall was frowning by the end of her assessments. 

“I’m not that bad, am I?” Chase asked worriedly. 

“No,” Kendall frowned deeper. “You actually passed all the concussion tests.” 

“I’m not concussed?” Chase frowned. 

“No.” Kendall confirmed with a purse of her lips. “Were you feeling sick before we left the museum?” She asked slowly. “You did look a little pale and you were dizzy.” 

Chase tried to think back and shrugged. “I guess I was a little off.” He agreed. “Do I have the flu?” He asked with a wince. He had that once when he was twelve during a full moon phase. Chase had been certain he was going to die when the wolf took over and saved his life. 

Chase didn’t want to think about the possibility of going through that again. 

“The energem should protect you from getting sick.” Kendall said thoughtfully. 

A sharp pain shot through Chase and caused him to gasp and curl into himself in shock. 

“Chase?” Kendall and Koda called worriedly. Chase’s back arched a little as a second, more thunderous pain blasted through all of his nerves. They were on fire. He panted for a moment as he gripped Koda’s shoulder with one hand and wrapped his other around his stomach. 

“What happen?” Koda asked with an edge of helplessness in his voice. 

“No.” Chase whispered and gasped again as a new wave of pain hit him. “No, no.” He pleaded as he looked up at the hole in the ground above them. The moon was sliding into view. Full, bright and blinding. 

The pain washed over him again and the realization hit him. 

He was turning. 

“Kendall.” He gasped as his body flinched from another shot of pain. “Don’t – don’t fear it. I – I won’t – ” A scream erupted from Chase’s lips and broke off into a whimper as he fell over and curled in on himself. 

It had never hurt like this before. The transformation. It had never caused him this much agony. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. He just hoped that his friends would still be there when he turned back. 

The pain seemed to last forever until finally he was no longer human. 

__

Kendall watched helplessly as Chase withered in pain and whimpered after the screams had faded. Koda was pale as he stood and backed away from the sight. Chase was no longer human. His body was covered in black fur and he had grown smaller. He was turning into something and the process was slow and so obviously painful. 

There was nothing they could do but watch. 

With a final whimper Chase’s eyes closed and his breathing evened out. 

“What he?” Koda demanded sharply. 

“A wolf.” Kendall breathed as she reached out and gently ran her fingers through Chase’s black fur. It was soft. “He’s a wolf.” 

“It happen to me?” Koda asked, eyes wide with fear. 

Kendall looked up at Koda and shook her head slowly. “No, I don’t think so.” She answered. “Keeper never mentioned anything like this. This is something else.”

“He, alright?” Koda edged closer to Chase’s new body and looked completely torn between the need to help his friend and wanting to run away. Kendall understood. She felt the same way. It wasn’t exactly natural for a human to turn into an animal. Of course it also wasn’t natural for a man to be frozen in ice for as long as Koda had been and survive. 

“I think he knew what was happening.” Kendall said as she ran her hand along Chase’s small, frail body. “He said not to be afraid.” 

“Wolf dangerous.” Koda said, but knelt next to Chase anyway. “But Chase friend.” 

“We’re just going to have to trust him.” Kendall said and hoped Chase was still in the animal, somewhere. 

__

Awareness came back slowly. Chase felt weaker than he had ever felt before. 

“Chase?” Kendall’s voice called to him. He forced his eyes open and his ears perked up and shifted. His head rested against the cold hard ground and his paws were sprawled out as he lay on his side. It took all of his energy just to breathe. 

“Chase.” Kendall sounded closer. A hand brushed over his fur and Chase flinched a little, his eyes widened as he located Kendall and whimpered. “It’s okay.” She said as she reached out and scratched gently behind his ears. The pain washed away and was replaced by a pleasure that Chase had never known. He relaxed into her touch and sighed a huff of air. 

“Chase.” Kendall said again as she pulled her hand away from Chase’s ear and ran it down the length of his back. Chase opened his eyes and looked at her. He felt miserable, despite her gloriously gentle touches. “You need to drink some water, do you understand.” 

With another pathetic whine Chase tried to lift his head up, but found himself far too weak. He closed his eyes again and slipped back into the thick blanket of sleep. 

When Chase woke again it was Koda who knelt beside him. His larger hands brushed through Chase’s fur coat casually. He stopped the second Chase opened his eyes. Chase shifted to better look at Koda and for a while they stared at one another. 

“You, understand?” Koda asked uncertainly. He had removed his hand from Chase’s fur. Chase longed for the touch. Chase let out a small noise. He couldn’t exactly talk, but he could at least try and communicate. 

Koda’s eyes went wide and his hand returned to Chase’s head gently. “You there.” The caveman said with a sigh of relief. “Thought you gone. Forever. Like my family.” There was a broken sadness there that made Chase’s heart ache for a new reason. He hadn’t meant to worry his friend or further traumatize him. 

Chase leaned a little into Koda’s touch and closed his eyes again. He wished he could tell Koda that everything was okay, but he felt too tired and weak to really consider anything other than laying there and allowing himself to be petted. 

He never realized something so simple would feel so good.

__

When Kendall returned Chase was feeling mildly better. He had been able to move, which had been no small victory. Koda had been helpful, even though Chase caught the scent of fear on his friend a few times. Wolves had not been the caveman’s best friend back in Koda’s day. Apparently. Chase actually wasn’t sure. It wasn’t like he received a normal education. 

“Has he had anything to drink?” Kendall asked as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. 

“A little.” Koda said and handed Kendall the last water bottle. They had each been carrying one when they had dropped down into the mineshaft. Chase’s had been full, Koda’s almost full and Kendall’s had been nearly completely drained. “Still weak.” 

“How are you doing, Chase?” Kendall asked gently and offered her hand to Chase to sniff. Although he wasn’t a dog, Chase wanted Kendall to feel at ease with him as much as possible and decided a friendly ‘lick’ might win her over. She smiled at his antics and gave him another glorious scratch behind the ear. 

Chase was pretty sure that Kendall had magic fingers. 

“Hang in there,” Kendall told Chase and turned to Koda. “I think I’ve found a way out, but I don’t want to leave you two alone.” She glanced at Chase worriedly. “He does look better, but this, this obviously isn’t normal.” 

“No.” Koda agreed. “Keeper?” 

“He might know.” Kendall agreed. 

Doubtful, Chase thought with a huff. Chase just hoped that they wouldn’t abandon him once they realized he was more animal than human. Going through that kind of rejection again would be the end of Chase, he was sure. He’d gotten used to being human, to craving human interaction. It would be mind breaking to lose it all again.

Although, Chase considered thoughtfully, they hadn’t rejected him yet. With his family it had been almost instantaneous. 

“Go, get help.” Koda said with a sigh. “I carry Chase.” 

Chase didn’t like the idea of being carried. He whimpered again, but other than a couple of concerned glances it didn’t have the desired effect. “We need to get him out of here.” Kendall agreed. “Will your knee be okay?” 

“It bruised.” Koda nodded. “But better. I can carry.” 

“Okay. Let me know if that changes.” Kendall sighed and helped Koda gather Chase up into his arms. The trio made their way through the darkness of the cave when Chase spotted it. He yowled a little and Koda nearly lost his balance in surprise. 

“You scare me.” Koda scolded lightly and made a worried noise when Chase started to wiggle in his arms. The caveman gently set Chase down as Kendall joined Koda. The two humans frowned together in the torchlight as Chase pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the spot that had caught his eye. He glanced at his audience and sighed, unable to convey what he needed. Instead of an attempt at wolf charades Chase pawed at the dirt and started to dig a bit around the lump he had seen. 

Slowly Kendall started to pick up on what was happening. She dropped to her knees and examined what Chase had found. “No way.” Kendall whispered as she dug a little deeper and revealed the pink energem. “Good job, Chase.” She said and patted his wolf head affectionately. “We would have walked right passed this if it weren’t for you!” 

Chase ducked his head a little and dodged Koda’s attempt to pick him up again. Apart from being a little sore he felt well enough to stand on his own four paws and walk with whatever dignity he had left. Besides, if things turned out any way like before, Chase needed to get used to surviving on his own again. 

“Feel better?” Koda asked skeptically. “I can help?” 

Chase shook his head, but licked at Koda’s hand to show that he was grateful all the same. Koda smiled a little and patted Chase’s head as he turned to Kendall who watched them carefully. She smiled before she frowned at the pink energem in her hand. 

Even though he was wolf, Chase could guess why Kendall looked rather disappointed. She had hoped that the pink energem would bond with her. Chase trotted over to her and nudged her leg gently. 

“It’s okay.” She told Chase and Koda. “We’ll find someone worthy to bond with it.” She vowed and pocketed the energem. 

__

Chase decided that he could make the mineshaft work for a new home as they reached the end of it. He sat down by the entrance and earned two confused looks from his friends. 

“Come on, Chase.” Kendall tried to coax gently. “Time to go home.” 

Although he was a wolf and wolves were technical canines, Chase didn’t appreciate being treated like a dog. He laid down with his head on his paws in an attempt to show Kendall that he didn’t plan on leaving. 

“Chase stay.” Koda said once he had caught on. “Koda stay.” He added as he crossed his arms and looked at Kendall like he was daring her to argue. 

“Stay?” Kendall blinked. “Here? It’s the middle of nowhere.” She frowned and seemed to deflate. “Which is probably for the best, but I’d feel better if you came back with me.” She looked at Chase and her eyes pleaded. “I know this is, odd, but maybe we can fix this. We just need to talk to Keeper.” 

Koda tipped his head to the side. “Kendall talk to Keeper. We stay.” 

Kendall sighed, but quickly gave in. “If that’s what you two want. I’ll come back as soon as I can and I’ll bring you guys some things. We’re going to fix this.” She promised Chase and patted his head gently before she gave Koda a hug and left them. 

Chase almost believed her. 

At least she wanted to try.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is officially the longest story I've written in fan-fiction...at least I'm pretty sure. Usually I end them in 30k, but this one is very close to 50k now! AND STILL GOING! I'm excited ^^
> 
> Enjoy!

Koda wasn’t sure what to think of his friend who had turned into a wolf. Chase had been like a brother to him, when he had been human. Even in wolf-form, Chase was kind and didn’t make Koda feel uncomfortable. He helped Koda and now Koda wanted to help Chase. 

As the day stretched on Chase seemed to get better. He trotted after Koda when Koda decided to find water. They were a silent pair. It almost reminded Koda of traveling with his brother back in his time. Koda’s heart ached a little, but he smiled at Chase when Chase licked at his fingers gently. 

A sound drew both of their attentions after they reached the stream. Koda watched as Chase sniffed at the air and his ears perked up, bending and searching for the source of the sound. Further down the river two deer appeared cautiously. Koda’s stomach growled. He liked Chase’s burgers, but he missed the taste of his father’s venison. 

Chase glanced at Koda and his tail flickered a little before he looked back at the deer. 

“Hunt?” Koda asked and Chase let out a very soft noise that sounded like a yes. Koda picked up the spear he had fashioned and nodded to his wolf friend and they moved together and disappeared in the brush to circle around their prey. 

__

It was thrilling to hunt with Koda. Chase wondered if it was the same as hunting with a pack. Chase had never joined a pack, even though he had received a few offers from other wolves that lived in the same forest he did back home. Chase had never been able to communicate with the wolves and the thought of joining the animals made him feel guilty. Like he was willingly giving up his human side. 

With Koda Chase didn’t feel lonely. They worked as a team and brought the deer down together. Koda’s spear incapacitated it and Chase ended its life mercifully. Chase had never hunted a deer before. He had always stuck to small prey that he could kill quickly. Chase didn’t like killing, but he had a wolf’s instinct and a need to survive. 

Koda patted his head in silent praise as he set about cleaning and gutting the large animal. Chase kept watch and made sure there were now scavengers about waiting to attack them and steal their prize. 

Together man and beast walked back to the mineshaft. The museum van was waiting for them along with a frantic Kendall. 

“Where were you two?” She asked as she ran to meet them. She moved to hug Koda, but recoiled at the sight of the dead deer. “Did you kill that? Koda! It isn’t even hunting season!” 

“Chase’s idea.” Koda said with a playful smile. Chase looked up at the caveman and snorted. He was unable to defend himself, but that was fine. He’d get Koda back when he turned human again. 

That is, if he turned human again.

Kendall deflated a little and sighed. “I brought you two real food, but I guess we might as well eat – deer.” She frowned, her face scrunched up in distaste. 

“It good.” Koda promised and lumbered forward. 

As Koda started making a fire pit Kendall turned to face Chase. She winced a little and Chase would have frowned if he could have. “I’m sorry,” She apologized when he tipped his head and looked at her. “You just have blood matted in your fur.” She shuddered a little and sat cross-legged in front of Chase’s wolf-form. “Keeper says this isn’t apart of being the black ranger.” Kendall looked lost for a second and held out her hand. Chase placed his paw in it playfully and won back her smile. “You really are still in there, aren’t you?”

Chase let out a small whine-bark and nodded his snout. 

“Okay, so you can answer some basic questions, right?” She asked and he nodded again. “Will you turn back?” 

Another nod, although slower than the last. Chase glanced away and removed his paw from her hand. He answered with hope more than truth. He had no idea what was going to happen.

“It was different, wasn’t it?” Kendall sighed when Chase nodded again. “It took you by surprise. Well, when you return to your normal self we are going to have a nice long chat about all of this.” 

Chase ducked his head at the thought. He remembered the last ‘nice’ long conversation he had about his wolf-self. It had ended with being banished from his family home by his father. 

“Hey,” Kendall said gently and scratched that sweet spot behind his ear again. “We’re going to figure this out. We aren’t going to leave you, Chase.” 

Hope dangled before Chase as he looked up at Kendall and saw her eyes were truthful. He hoped that the glimmer of light wouldn’t be taken from him again. 

__

Koda’s venison was amazing. Raw meat was okay for his wolf’s body, but the cured meat was glorious. 

“This isn’t bad.” Kendall told Koda as they sat by the fire that night. “Maybe we can make this at the café.” 

“We could hunt.” Koda offered with a light in his eyes that was hopeful. Kendall hesitated just long enough that Koda deflated a little. “Not deer season.” Koda sighed, but nodded. “Maybe during deer season!” 

Kendall winced and glanced at Chase. “Well, hopefully by then we’ll have this all figured out.” She said carefully. 

Chase wondered what she would think if they couldn’t ‘fix’ his wolf condition. Would she abandon him? Would she take him in like a stray? Chase wasn’t sure he wanted to know. For now, like he had taught himself over his lifetime, he would enjoy the moment and not worry about the troubles of tomorrow. 

__

The fourth day came and brought back the sickness. Chase could barely move by nightfall. 

“Something is wrong.” Kendall said as she ran her fingers through Chase’s fur. He whined again as his body ached and burned. “He’s too hot.” 

“Fever?” Koda asked worriedly as he placed a repurposed Frisbee by Chase’s head and gently lifted Chase so he could drink the water inside. Chase lapped at the water tiredly before he lost interest. Dutifully Koda laid his head back down and gently petted his head. 

“I think so.” Kendall nodded. “I’m not a veterinarian, I don’t know how to help him.” 

“Can we find a vet-true-harry-an?” Koda asked and frowned as he tried to say the word veterinarian. It was an adorable failure.

“I don’t know if we should,” Kendall admitted. “He’s not actually a wolf, I don’t think.” She winced. “I mean, he’s human, most of the time.” 

Not quite, Chase thought lazily as another wave of pain hit him and his body twitched and shifted. 

He was turning back, Chase realized, but he couldn’t tell his friends. The pain made it difficult to think. More agony washed over him and he yowled loudly and shifted to try and ease the pain. 

They were afraid to move him. In his haze Chase was fairly certain they had figured out what was happening. Chase was in too much pain to care. 

By the time the moon disappeared Chase was human again, but the fever still raged strong. He felt weak and disoriented and finally passed out. 

__

Kendall helped Koda dress Chase the best they could and lifted his unresponsive body into the van. She drove straight to the hospital. She told the doctors half-truths about going for a walk and falling through an old mineshaft. She kept the part about Chase turning into a wolf to herself. 

“It sounds like you’ve all been through quite the ordeal.” The nurse said kindly as she handed Kendall forms for her to fill out. Kendall was heartbroken to realize that she didn’t know much about Chase. She couldn’t even recall when his birthday was. 

Koda was of no help since Koda was still learning English. 

“He’ll be able to answer when he wakes up.” The nurse assured Kendall when she turned the sheet back mostly empty. “This happens, don’t worry.” 

Kendall was worried. A doctor appeared some time later. He was a tall man with dark blue eyes and sharp features. His eyes were curious as he looked at Kendall. 

“You are listed as his emergency contact,” The doctor stated lightly. “I couldn’t help but notice you aren’t related.” 

Kendall wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything, but nodded. “I’m a friend, he works with me.” For me, Kendall thought, but didn’t elaborate. “His family lives in New Zealand.” 

“Oh,” the man nodded and motioned for her and Koda to follow him. “I’m Dr. Thomas and I’ve been assigned to your friend’s case. Mr. Randall must have picked up some sort of virus that’s working its way through his system. He’s severely dehydrated and malnourished, but we have him on an IV drip to help balance that out. Once the fever is cleared I would suggest he up his intake of food for a while. He’s underweight and low on various nutrients. I can recommend a few multi-vitamins for him to try.”

“Thank you,” Kendall said after she soaked in the information. 

“Chase okay?” Koda asked worriedly. Dr. Thomas raised his eyebrow at Koda’s broken English, but nodded. 

“Yes, he’s weak and his muscles will be strained for a bit, but he should make a full recovery.” 

Relief flooded Kendall and she nodded slowly. “Can we see him?” 

“Sure, I’ll send a nurse down to guide you to his room. He should be cleared to leave within the day.” Dr. Thomas said and left the small room to go find a nurse. 

“Chase okay.” Koda repeated as he locked his eyes onto Kendall’s. She smiled back at him and they hugged one another. 

“He’s okay.” Kendall repeated. 

__

Chase did not like being in the hospital, but he was thrilled to be human again. He frowned at the implications of it all. He had only been a wolf for four days. It was like the curse had been changed, but Chase couldn’t be sure. 

“Chase,” Kendall and Koda swept into the room and started Chase from his thoughts. 

“Can I get out of here?” Chase asked weakly as he looked up at them. He was still drained from the agonizing transformation and was still running a low grade fever, but he didn’t want to stay in the hospital any longer than necessary. Plus it would be incredibly hard to explain what happened to them with nurses coming in and out of his room every five minutes. 

“We’re working on that.” Kendall told him and gently took his hand. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better.” 

“We scared.” Koda said shyly. He hung back by the door and kicked a little at the ground. He was wearing shoes, Chase noted. He knew how much Koda hated shoes. 

“Sorry.” Chase closed his eyes and fought off the pull of sleep. “I didn’t think it would happen again.” He admitted. “It wasn’t supposed to happen again.” 

Chase thought back to his conversation with Moana and frowned. Maybe he hadn’t listened well enough. She said the wolf would always be part of him. Intertwined with his destiny. He shook his head. 

“We’ll talk when we get back to the museum.” Kendall promised. “Rest, Chase, we’re going to get you home.” 

__

The hospital let Chase sign out once his fever had dropped to normal levels. The trio headed back to the museum in silence. Chase was dressed in fresh clothes that Kendall had graciously picked up for him. It felt good to be human again, but Chase was afraid. He waited until they were in the lab with Keeper before he tried to explain things to him. 

“I was ten the first time it happened.” Chase started, unable to look at the group as he stared at the table in front of him. “It was quick, not like, not like this last time. One minute I was a normal ten-year-old boy and the next I was a wolf pup. My mother saw it happen. She locked me in a broom closet until my dad got home. He took one look at me and kicked me out of the house.” 

“You were ten!” Kendall gasped. “Chase.” 

“I was a wolf, an animal.” Chase shrugged. “I figured it out. During the next full moon cycle I turned back into a human. I thought it was over and I went home. My mother was thrilled and my father was happy. That is, until the full moon ended and I turned back into a wolf. My father kicked me out again. He said I didn’t belong there anymore. I was more animal than human and even though it hurt, I sort of understood his reasoning.” 

“Oh, Chase.” Kendall shook her head. 

Koda looked confused, probably finding it hard to follow along. Chase tried to talk slower as he continued. 

“I tried to figure out what was happening on my own. I had four days each month to do research. I figured that I couldn’t be some sort of werewolf. None of my symptoms matched up and, lets face it, werewolves aren’t real. It was a little bit of a relief, but there were no other explanations. I couldn’t find anything that made any sense. When I turned thirteen I decided to confront my father. I thought it had to be genetic. He hadn’t really seemed overly surprised that I had turned into a wolf, I just wasn’t sure why.” 

Chase paused for a moment and Koda moved to sit next to him. Their shoulders brushed together and Chase relaxed a bit. “My father told me it was his fault. He angered some witch and decided to punish him by cursing me. He didn’t really go into a whole lot of detail, but when I asked to come back home he told me I couldn’t. My mom was pregnant with my sister and they didn’t want to risk me harming her or the baby.” 

“Your father bad man.” Koda growled. 

“No,” Chase defended, but the defense was weak. “No, he, he just wanted to protect my mom. I’m an animal, Koda. Animals can’t be trusted around humans. Not wild ones.”

“That’s bullshit.” Kendall said. Kendall never cursed. It took Chase by surprise. He looked at her from across the table and saw her close her eyes and adjust her glasses on the bridge of her nose. “He should have taken care of you.”

“He did.” Chase said quietly. “In his own way. He’d leave me clothes and food during the full moon cycle so I wouldn’t have to steal anything anymore. Shortly after that I decided not to waste my time doing research. I spent my full moon cycles having fun and being human. I learned how to skateboard and met a lot of people who seemed to like to be around me, even if it was for a short amount of time.” Chase shrugged. “It wasn’t all bad. Being the wolf was lonely, but I, it’s apart of me, you know?” 

“You said you thought it wouldn’t happen again.” Kendall pointed out. 

Chase nodded. “Yeah. I saved a cat while I was human. It belonged to a fortuneteller. She had this,” he said and held up his energem. “She gave it to me for my courage and told me that it would help me with my condition. I thought she meant I wouldn’t turn again.” He sighed again and looked down at his hands. “I guess what she really meant would be more human than animal. Anyway than you showed up, Kendall and I moved here and we found Koda. You guys know the rest.” 

“You said it didn’t hurt to transform before,” Kendall said after a long, heavy silence. “Why would it be different now?” 

“The energem.” Keeper spoke up. “I sensed something different about Chase when he first came here, but I didn’t think much of it. It was muted. Asleep. Now I understand. The energem is disrupting the process of the curse. It’s allowing Chase to be human during the time when he is supposed to be a wolf. Because the curse is still apart of Chase, he still must transform into the wolf. The energem is fighting against the curse, causing the transformation to slow down.” 

“Causing the pain.” Kendall realized with wide, worried eyes. “We have to find a way to break the curse.” 

Chase winced. “I don’t think it’s possible.” 

“We try.” Koda said boldly. “We have to try.” He said and nodded with a grunt. 

Although skeptical that the wolf could be taken from him, Chase smiled a little. Moana had been right, he was blessed with friends who wanted to help him. Unshakeable. 

No matter what happened with the wolf inside of him, Chase was grateful he was no longer alone.


	5. Chapter 5

They didn’t have a whole lot of time to dwell on Chase’s personal problems. Things happened pretty quickly and suddenly the team grew by three. 

Shelby was a bit of a surprise. Koda and Chase were familiar with her from working in the café, but they had never been exactly ‘close.’ It was fun to hit on her because she was so desperate to be part of the digs. Chase figured she’d fit in great, as soon as Kendall got over her jealousy.

Chase vaguely remembered running into Tyler before he had bonded with the red energem, but in the end they were all strangers trying to work together. 

Chase didn’t have to tell Kendall and Koda to keep his secret, well, a secret. The whole ‘wolf’ thing was forgotten. 

When Keeper told them that Sledge had returned their focus switched to protecting the world and staying alive. It was fair, Chase thought when he had a moment to think about his wolf problem. He had nearly a month before he had to worry about his next transformation. Hopefully it would be smoother than the last time. 

He really hadn’t expected Kendall or Koda to be able to help him anyway. 

Chase was friendly to the others and for the most part he got along with them. Tyler was cool and although Shelby was a little stuck up, she was friendly enough. Riley was a little uptight and didn’t seem to like Chase at all. 

Adventures happened and suddenly Moana showed up again. Chase felt a ping of homesickness at the sight of her. She swept him away from his friends and he promised to watch her new shop she had set up in Amber Beach. 

It all went to hell pretty quickly and Chase found himself under a spell that nearly forced him to hurt Shelby. 

The guilt ate at him. 

“Hey,” Riley said and sat down next to Chase on the bench outside of the museum. It was nighttime and the moon and stars were out and glittered above them. Chase stared up at the moon as he did so often as a wolf and wondered if he was cursed in more ways than one. 

“Hey,” Chase said back, but couldn’t bring himself to look away from the moon. 

“That was intense.” Riley continued after a moment. “I don’t exactly know how to describe it.” 

“Terrifying.” Chase offered and finally pulled his eyes away from the sky to look at Riley. Riley had a curious expression on his face. It was the most endearing expression that Riley had ever pointed in Chase’s direction.

“When I got hit by the spell I felt my mind being taken over.” Riley said. “It was almost instantaneous.” He breathed. “I couldn’t fight it, Chase. Tyler and Koda said they couldn’t either.” 

“It was a screwed up situation.” Chase agreed. “I’m just glad Shelby managed to stop me.” 

“No,” Riley shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest as he continued. “I couldn’t fight it. You did. I just, I was wondering how? You fought it for a long time. What made you different?” 

Chase hadn’t really thought about it. He had been able to fight the spell. Slowly Chase realized his ‘luck’ was probably due to the fact that he was already cursed. Perhaps the first curse slowed the second curse down. 

In the end it didn’t really matter. Chase had still screwed up. It was mildly ironic that his wolf-self had saved the day and his human-self had nearly ruined everything. 

For whatever reason, Chase didn’t want to explain it to Riley. “I don’t know. Just lucky, I guess.” 

Riley frowned, but sighed and stood up. “We’re here for you,” the green ranger offered. “If you want to talk about it.” 

“Nothing happened.” Chase looked away so he could hide the guilt that claimed him. “I stopped it. A little too late, but I did stop it.” 

“Don’t beat yourself up, Chase.” Riley said, but gave up on trying to console Chase and walked back towards the museum. 

Chase looked back up at the sky and wished for the first time in a long time that the moon was full and he was a wolf. Being alone, sometimes, was easier. 

__

It wasn’t until after the ‘tooth’ incident that Riley and Chase started to understand one another better. Chase had decided to let Riley off the hook and pretended not to hear his apology. Riley really had no reason to apologize since Chase was the one who acted like a slacker. 

Maybe if Riley knew the truth…

No, Chase wasn’t ready to come clean to the new team members just yet. Chase figured he had been lucky with Kendall and Koda. He wasn’t so certain his luck would last once Riley, Shelby and Tyler learned his secret. 

The full moon cycle was approaching quickly and there was nothing Chase could do but hope that when it happened he could simply disappear for a few days and his friends wouldn’t notice. 

__

Riley groaned in pain as he rolled from his stomach and onto his back. He blinked up at the towering trees above him and wondered where the heck he was. One moment he and Chase had been battling one of Sledge’s monsters in the middle of the city, now he was in the middle of nowhere. 

“Riley?” Chase called and appeared over him, his face pinched with worry. 

“My ankle.” Riley hissed as Chase helped him sit upright. “I think I twisted it when I fell.” 

Chase helped Riley lean against a nearby tree before he started to assess Riley’s ankle. Chase looked like he knew what he was doing, but Riley was pretty sure their resident ‘hot shot’ was not medically trained. 

“I think you’ve sprained it.” Chase announced after a long moment. The black ranger looked up and caught Riley’s surprised look. “What? I got injured a lot when I first started to skateboard.” He shrugged. “If we take your boot off your ankle is going to swell and we’ll never get it back on.” Chase swallowed thickly and shook his head. “I could use my sweater to wrap your ankle though, it might give it more stability, but you shouldn’t walk on it.” 

“But we need to get back.” Riley said with a light hiss. “Have you tried to morph?” 

Chase nodded. “My morpher and my com are both dead. I think it had something to do with the teleportation act. Maybe it drained our energy in order to send us, uh, here.”

Riley frowned and attempted to use his morpher and found it dead as well. “We really need to get back and help the others.” Riley whispered worriedly. 

__

“I know.” Chase admitted and ignored the queasy feeling that was settling in his stomach. “I’ll try to find something to help you walk, but I honestly think it’ll do you more harm than good. You can’t help them if you end up breaking your ankle.” 

Riley sighed and nodded reluctantly. “You have a point.” 

“I’ll go see if I can find something to support your ankle,” Chase shrugged and looked up at the sky. “It’s going to be dark soon, I’ll gather some wood for a fire.” 

“I don’t have any matches.” Riley said with a wince. “Do you?” 

Chase grinned. “I don’t need any matches, Koda taught me this awesome trick. You’ll see.” He patted Riley’s shoulder and stood stiffly. His body ached and his stomach turned a little. He caught himself on the tree and ignored Riley’s worried expression. 

“Did you hit your head?” Riley asked. 

“No.” Chase pressed his hand against his forehead and looked up at the sky again. His heart fell when he saw the moon’s size. He couldn’t tell if it was full or very nearly so. He hoped he had at least another day or two before the wolf took over. “I just stood up too fast.” He smiled down at Riley and walked off into the woods. 

__

“They were hit with a beam,” Tyler explained to Kendall. 

“One minute they were there,” Shelby added sadly. “The next second they were gone.” 

Kendall looked to Koda and then turned to Tyler. “And you defeated the monster?” She asked worriedly. 

“Yes.” Tyler nodded. “We got rid of the monster and they didn’t come back.” 

“They were likely transported elsewhere.” Keeper said and appeared in the room. “If you can find their energem’s signatures, you should be able to locate them.” 

Kendall nodded and moved over to her equipment, but Koda’s hand on her arm stopped her. “What’s wrong?” She asked. His eyes were grave and her heart leapt into her throat. 

“The moon.” Koda whispered. “It almost full.”

“Oh no.” Kendall whispered when she realized what the moon meant. 

“Wait,” Shelby frowned and drew the room’s attention back to her. “What does the moon have to do with anything?” 

__

Riley woke to the sound of screaming. 

“Chase?” He called. The fire had died down. Chase must have gone for more wood. Riley listened to the dark. He heard a shuffling and some swearing before another scream split the otherwise silent night. “Chase!” He called and struggled to get up. His ankle collapsed and pain shot through Riley’s body. 

There was growling and another cry that sounded both animal and human. “Chase!” Riley screamed into the dark. Whimpers followed and then silence. 

Chase didn’t return. 

Riley watched the fire die out. 

__

Chase burrowed his snout in a pile of his human clothes and whimpered weakly. His luck sucked. Actually, he was fairly convinced that he had no luck. He was stuck in the middle of nowhere with Riley and now they were both in trouble. It took a long while for the sickness to pass and Chase’s wolf body to be strong enough to move on its own again. 

Somehow in his thrashing his energem had managed to get pulled from his neck. With some doing Chase managed to bury it in his shirt. It would be easier if he had hands and more energy.

“Chase!” Riley’s broken voice called. He’d heard him call out every once in a while throughout the night, but Chase couldn’t respond. At least not as a human. 

Slowly Chase managed to get his paws under him and hauled his battered body to his feet. He limped slowly towards the clearing where he had left Riley. He moved silently and wondered what he could do to convince Riley that he was his friend. His energem had slipped off during his thrashing and Chase wasn’t sure if bringing it along would help anything. He was pretty sure he couldn’t Riley that he was the man he knew. Riley hadn’t seen the transformation and Riley thought so logically. 

Chase was screwed, but he couldn’t just leave Riley without any protection. He would watch over him as a wolf and hopefully Kendall and Koda would find them. 

__

Riley eyed the trees and worried about Chase, but it wasn’t until he saw the black wolf that his heart shattered. “Chase.” Riley sobbed, but grabbed the closet thing to him and threw it at the wolf. 

The wolf’s ears flattened against its head and it stared at Riley with ebony eyes that flashed in the morning light. It dodged the next couple of rocks, but didn’t run away. It did, however, keep its distance. 

“You are not going to eat me!” Riley shouted at the wolf. It let out a low whine and rested its snout on its paws as it watched Riley. 

Riley didn’t dare take his eyes off of the animal. “You killed my friend.” He said after a while. The wolf made another low noise, and perked his ears up. It didn’t look like a killer, Riley thought, but his heart was hard and Chase was gone. The wolf had to have killed Chase. Chase would have never abandoned Riley. Not for this long. Not after all the screams. 

Chase was gone. Dead. 

The wolf was at fault. 

Riley broke down suddenly, tears burned in his eyes and dripped from his eyes. Chase was gone. His friend had been ripped apart. 

The wolf let out another sharp whine and crawled forward towards Riley. Riley screamed again and threw the biggest rock next to him at the wolf’s head. It hit hard and the creature yowled and dodged off into the brush, but Riley knew it was still there, just hidden. 

Chase was dead. 

Chase was gone. 

There was no bringing Chase back from the fate he suffered. Riley cried himself dry and eventually had nothing left inside of him but numbness. He tried to get up, but his ankle wouldn’t support him and he fell in a heap by the long cold fire. 

The wolf appeared again, but paced just outside of Riley’s little campsite. Riley wasn’t sure why it hadn’t attacked him yet. He figured it was waiting until it was hungry again. Chase wasn’t exactly small, lean, yes, but not small. It would have fed this young wolf for several days. 

No, Riley didn’t understand the wolf at all, but he also didn’t trust the wolf. He blamed the wolf. 

“Get out of here!” Riley shouted and tossed a hand full of dirt in the wolf’s direction. It flinched back but didn’t run. “Leave me alone. Go!” Another rock bounced off the wolf’s side and it let out a sharp yelp and ducked behind a tree, but again, it didn’t leave. 

Riley hated it. 

__

At some point Riley fell asleep, but he woke up. The wolf was still not hungry enough to attack him, Riley thought. 

The wolf lay close by and looked to be asleep itself. Riley growled a little and grabbed the stick he had liberated from the fire and wacked it down on the creature. It jerked awake and flinched away from the sudden and vicious attack. 

Riley frowned at the creature as it ducked its head and moved out of Riley’s reach. Guilt flittered into Riley’s heart as he looked at the creature, its tail between it’s legs as it watched Riley. Even after all of the abuse Riley had done to it, the creature still hadn’t attacked Riley. 

Logically speaking, it didn’t add up. 

Why hadn’t the wolf fought back? Or why hadn’t it left? It didn’t make sense. 

A howl in the distance caught both of their attentions. The wolf’s ears went up and then flatted against its head as its eyes focused on Riley. It looked afraid. 

“Friends of yours?” Riley asked, but he was no longer convinced that was true. He wasn’t sure that this wolf had caused Chase’s death. Maybe it had been the others. “Sorry, I can’t risk it. I have to survive.” 

It whined a little and trotted out of the clearing. Riley didn’t see his wolf companion until well into the next night. He listened to the other wolves howls get closer and closer until they stopped. He heard the pattering of feet and the rushing of bushes and dried leaves crackling. 

Riley gripped the stick tightly as he eyed the darkness. The full moon was blocked by dark clouds and set an eerie glow in the clearing. Riley was terrified. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as he waited to be devoured by the creatures of the night. 

Another stick snapped and a low growl sounded off to Riley’s left. This was it. This was the last few minutes in Riley’s life. He was cold. He was starving and he had lost one of his best friends. 

A roaring growl sounded and Riley flinched back into the tree behind him as a wolf lunged forward. The wolf was redirected as another wolf crashed into it. There was a hiss and a whine and several other noises that sounded vicious. Riley found it hard to track what was happening in the dark. 

The clouds parted and the vision became clear. In front of him stood his wolf companion in all its black-furred glory. It was bleeding, its front right paw held up as if it were injured. There were two grey wolves in front of it. Neither looked any healthier. The stand off was clear. A growl to the right sounded and the black wolf twisted in time to block a third grey wolf’s attack. 

Riley watched in horror as the wolves battled. Even though it was terribly out numbered, the black wolf stood firm and fought ferociously. 

Unable to do much, Riley swung his stick at the attacking grey wolf. It cried out a little and scattered back with its two grey friends. The wolves eyed Riley and the leader snorted and turned and trotted off into the night. 

Apparently Riley and his black wolf bodyguard weren’t worth the trouble. 

The other wolves followed, except for the black one. 

For the moment, Riley decided to take the victory. 

The black wolf turned back to Riley before it collapsed with a soft whine. Riley’s eyes widened as he crawled to the animal’s side. The wolf was littered with bites and claw marks. Blood soaked its fur. 

“Don’t die,” Riley begged as he gently placed his hand against a patch of undamaged fur. “Please don’t die.” He pleaded breathlessly as he pulled the creature closer to him. 

Suddenly it felt like if the wolf died it would be like losing Chase all over again. 

Riley wasn’t sure why he thought that way, but his heart clenched at the idea of losing the wolf.


	6. Chapter 6

Morning came without relief. The wolf made small whining noises, but otherwise didn’t move other than to open its eyes and listen to Riley as he whispered to it. 

Riley was at a loss. He wasn’t sure where his friends were, but they were too late to save Chase and soon they would be too late to save the wolf. Riley had done his best to bandage the wolf’s wounds. The worst were on it’s legs, but there was a rather impressive bite mark on its neck and several lacerations on his back. 

“You would have liked my friend.” Riley told the animal. “I don’t think you ate him anymore. You defended me, so I don’t think you would have hurt him, but he – he’s gone. He was a good friend. The best. I never told him that. I wish I had. I – I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do this without him.” 

The wolf opened its eyes and looked at Riley. It wasn’t the first time that Riley thought he saw some sense of human-like intelligence in the animal’s eyes. His own dog, Rubric, always had seemed to be able to read Riley’s mind. Maybe this wolf had the same abilities. 

“Riley!” 

Riley looked up. “I’m hearing things,” he told the wolf and patted its head. He was freezing. His shirt had been sacrificed to make the bandages for his rescuer. 

“Riley! Chase!” 

It sounded like Kendall and Shelby’s voices blended together. 

“Riley!” And Tyler, Riley frowned. 

“Help!” Riley croaked on the off chance that he wasn’t hallucinating. The sound of the words got stuck in the sand lining his throat. He hadn’t had much water and no food since he had become stranded. It had to be his mind playing tricks on him. 

“Riley!” Koda appeared from the tree line. “Chase.” He ran over and Riley couldn’t help but stare slack jawed as Koda turned his attention to the wolf in Riley’s lap. 

“It’s hurt.” Riley rasped weakly. “It saved my life.” 

“Chase hurt bad.” Koda looked at Riley. 

Riley was incredibly confused, but his heart leapt back to life at Koda’s words. “Chase is alive?” He asked. The dryness of his throat threw him into a coughing fit. It hurt, his whole body heaved and shook. 

Koda’s face scrunched up and looked from Riley to the wolf. “This is Chase.” Koda said with a deep frown. 

“What?” Riley frowned back at the caveman. “Koda, this is a wolf.” 

“Riley!” Shelby and Tyler broke through the tree line. Shelby landed on her knees beside Riley and eyed the wolf with wide-eyed curiosity. “Is that Chase?” She looked at Koda who nodded gravely. “We need to get him help. Tyler,” she turned to the red ranger and he nodded. 

“I think I can get the jeep back here. Hold on.” Tyler patted Riley’s shoulder and ran off into the woods. 

Kendall appeared moments later with a bundle of clothes. “I found his clothes.” She said and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Riley. Her eyes locked on the wolf. “Oh my gosh.” She whispered and loomed over Shelby’s shoulder. “Here, slip this back around his neck.” She said and handed Shelby the black energem. 

“I’m hallucinating.” Riley decided as he watched the scene before him. 

“What?” Kendall frowned and adjusted her glasses. “No, we’ll explain, but here, you need to drink some water.” She handed Riley a fresh water bottle. Riley reached out suspiciously and took the gift. It felt real enough. He twisted open the cap and took a small drink. It tasted real enough too. 

“Chase hurt bad.” Koda said to Kendall who frowned and practically forced Shelby to switch places with her. Shelby huffed but turned her focus on Riley. Her hands on his cheek nearly convinced Riley that this was all real and not some incredibly real dream. 

“You guys are really here?” Riley blinked. “But Chase isn’t a wolf, that’s impossible.” 

“We’re power rangers,” Shelby pointed out. “How is that possible?” 

Hallucination Shelby had a point. 

“I thought he was dead.” Riley whispered and stared at the wolf. Kendall’s nimble fingers gently brushed over torn skin and her eyes narrowed as she took in the damage. 

“How is he going to survive this?” Kendall whispered and looked up suddenly. “I don’t know what we should do.” 

“What about a veterinarian?” Shelby suggested. 

“The full moon cycle end.” Koda shook his head. 

“Koda’s right,” Kendall breathed in deep and gently ran her fingers over the wolf’s head. “He is going to start to change back tonight.” She shook her head and looked down at the wolf with such despair Riley felt his heart stumble in his chest. 

Was the wolf really Chase? Riley knew he was missing some major details, but now wasn’t the time to ask questions. Chase’s life, or at least the life of the wolf, was in jeopardy. 

The jeep appeared and Tyler jumped out of the driver’s seat. “Can we move him?” Tyler asked as he rejoined the group. 

“Carefully.” Kendall nodded. “Maybe we can wash some of these wounds out at the lab. It might help fend off infection.” 

“He got sick last time.” Koda reminded her. 

Riley’s head was spinning. 

“Last time?” Riley asked, despite his best efforts to hold back the millions of questions that flickered in his brain. “This has happened before?” 

“Yes.” Kendall said, but didn’t elaborate as she organized Koda and Tyler. They used Shelby’s button down shirt as a gurney. Shelby helped support Riley back to the jeep. It was crowded, but they all managed to get situated. 

The wolf’s eyes opened and he seemed to look at Riley. The jeep hit a pothole and the entire vehicle shook from the force. A high-pitched whine escaped from the wolf. From Chase. 

“Watch it!” Shelby and Riley scolded Tyler who immediately started to apologize profusely. Riley ignored him and watched as Ms. Morgan gently ran her fingers through Chase’s fur. The gentle touch seemed to sooth Chase. The animal sighed and shifted closer to her. A smile graced Ms. Morgan’s lips and Riley felt a rush of heat crawl up his spine. 

“Chase protect you?” Koda asked, breaking the moment before Riley could analyze his feelings. 

“I didn’t know it was him.” Riley breathed, not able to look away from the wolf’s battered body. “Chase disappeared. I heard screaming, but I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t save him” Riley took a moment to pull the reigns on his emotions. Now was not the time to break down. “I thought Chase was dead. I thought this wolf killed him, but no matter what I did to it, he wouldn’t leave.”

“You didn’t see him transform.” Ms. Morgan nodded. “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I don’t think I would have believed very easily either. Don’t beat yourself up, Riley.”

“I threw things at him.” Riley gasped and shook his head. “I thought he had killed Chase, but he is Chase.” 

“That doesn’t really make sense.” Shelby commented from the front seat, but smiled. “But I kind of understand. I don’t think I would have thought any differently, if it makes you feel any better.” 

It didn’t, but Riley could appreciate the attempt to alleviate his guilt. 

“Then, last night, these other wolves showed up.” Riley closed his eyes and tried to block the images from his mind, but there they were, crystal clear and haunting. “He fought them off. He kept them from hurting me.” 

“Chase good friend.” Koda nodded and ran his hand across Chase’s back affectionately. 

“I’m so sorry,” Riley whispered, but he looked at Ms. Morgan and shook his head. “Does he even know what’s happening? Will he remember?” 

“He is aware when he becomes the wolf.” Ms. Morgan explained. “He’s still Chase, just in a different form. I promised him we’d help him.” She shook her head. “If anyone is to blame for this, it’s me. I should have been paying attention. This is my fault.” 

Chase opened his eyes and nudged her hand gently with his nose. 

“Don’t try and convince me differently.” She scolded the animal lightly before she resumed petting the space between Chase’s pointy wolf ears. “I promised you I’d try to fix this and I immediately forgot all about it.” 

“You busy.” Koda pointed out. “I forget too.” 

“Yes, but I’m the organized one,” Kendall said, but visibly shut the thoughts down. “No, questioning what happened isn’t going to help us now. We need to focus on helping Chase.” 

Riley stared at Ms. Morgan and had to bite his tongue to reframe from asking more questions. Finally the tension was just too much. “How did this happen?” 

Ms. Morgan looked at him sadly and sighed. “He was cursed by a witch when he was ten. That’s all we really know. Before he bonded with the black energem he would spend all his time as a wolf. He only turned human during the full moon cycle. Four days a month. When he bonded with the energem it kind of flipped things around and it also made it harder for him to change forms. He gets sick. Really sick and the process of the change slowed down so it’s also incredibly painful.” 

“Chase weak.” Koda pointed out. “Worse than before.” 

Ms. Morgan nodded. “I’m afraid he may not survive this time.” She admitted. “We’re going to need to get him to a hospital as soon as the transformation is complete.” 

“He survive.” Koda said firmly. 

There was no alternative, Riley agreed. He had thought that Chase was gone forever. He had mourned Chase. 

If Riley could save Chase now, he would. 

Besides, he had a lot to apologize to Chase for once the black ranger was feeling better. 

__

“It’s starting.” Ms. Morgan said. They had managed to move Chase into the lab and set him out on the table. Riley had been given a pair of crutches and a bag of greasy food. Riley used the crutches, but ignored the food. His stomach turned at the thought of eating. He wasn’t sure he’d ever feel like eating again if Chase didn’t survive. 

“The transformation?” Tyler asked needlessly. Ms. Morgan nodded tensely, her eyes never leaving Chase’s twitching form. The wolf let out a panted breath followed by a yowl.

“What can we do?” Shelby asked as she hovered between Riley and Tyler. 

“Nothing.” Ms. Morgan closed her eyes and pushed her glasses up so she could rub at her eyes. “Shelby,” she said, her eyes focused on the pink ranger. “This is going to get pretty bad. You might want – ”

“I’m not leaving.” Shelby narrowed her eyes. “He’s my friend. I’m staying here and helping.” 

“I was going to say,” Ms. Morgan raised her eyebrows, “you may want to make us some coffee. You are the only one here that knows how to work the new machine.” 

“Oh.” Shelby blushed a little and nodded. “Sure thing, Tyler, can you help me?” 

Tyler nodded and silently followed her out of the lab. 

“How bad is it going to get?” Riley asked. He wanted to be prepared. Ms. Morgan had already said she was afraid Chase wouldn’t survive the process. 

“It’s like his entire body is trying to break itself into pieces.” Ms. Morgan described. “He’s conscious throughout the entire process. I had hoped he would pass out, but he couldn’t. The fever picks up and he sweats a lot. Dehydration is something we can help, but only so much. He might refuse the water or be too weak to drink it.” She shook her head. “I wish there was a doctor we could trust.” 

“Dr. Thomas?” Koda suggested. 

“We’ll take him to the hospital as soon as he’s human again.” Ms. Morgan nodded to Koda. “It’s too risky to involve civilians.” 

“They might take him away,” Riley nodded. “People tend to lock up what they don’t understand.” 

“Or what they fear.” Ms. Morgan nodded. “We have to be sure he’s human, then we can get him help.” 

The process was agonizingly slow to watch. Riley couldn’t imagine what Chase was actually feeling as his body shuddered, trembled and broke apart. 

Several times throughout the process Riley was terrified that Chase had stopped breathing, but after the moment passed Chase would inhale and pant again. 

None of them could watch the process for long. It was hard to witness how much pain their friend was in and to face the helplessness of not being able to do anything to prevent it. 

“We have to stop this from happening to him again.” Riley told Ms. Morgan as they stepped outside the lab for some fresh air. Chase was still alive, but barely. The wounds his body had suffered while in wolf form had transferred to his human body. The bite mark on his neck looked ragged and his back, arms and legs were a mess of torn skin. 

Chase looked like he had been mauled. Essentially he had been, Riley supposed as he looked up at the rising sun. 

“I think it’s over.” Tyler announced to their back as he exited the museum. “We should get him to a hospital, he isn’t doing well.” 

Ms. Morgan nodded and led the way back down to the lab. Chase lay pale and sweat-soaked on the table. His eyes were closed tight and he groaned, cheeks flushed with obvious fever. 

“Get the trashcan.” Ms. Morgan instructed and helped Chase sit up and bend over before he lost the very meager contents of his stomach. It was mostly clear colored bile. 

“Chase?” Kendall asked, but Chase’s eyes rolled back into his head and he went limp in her arms. “We need to move him now.” She instructed and the boys all moved forward to grab a hold of their weakened friend. 

“Shelby, take the sheet.” Ms. Morgan instructed as she helped the boys gather up Chase’s fragile form. Shelby didn’t argue, she took the sheet that was giving Chase a semblance of privacy and folded it carefully as she averted her eyes. They had dressed Chase in a pair of boxers, but Riley felt as if Chase’s condition was exposing them to how vulnerable and human Chase was. 

“Kendall.” The airy whisper stopped them all in their tracks. 

“Chase.” Ms. Morgan leaned close to Chase’s face. Her fingers reached out and ran through Chase’s hair. Riley felt that burning feeling settle in his stomach. Vaguely he realized he wanted to be the one touching Chase. He wanted to be the one to comfort Chase. 

Selfish, Riley scolded himself and looked away. 

He missed whatever Chase said, but Ms. Morgan looked devastated as Chase lost consciousness again. She shook her head and motioned for Koda and Tyler to continue to move. 

It was going to be a torturous day.


	7. Chapter 7

“He was mauled by an animal?” Dr. Thomas asked Riley with a frown. “You were camping?” 

“I twisted my ankle when we were hiking.” Riley explained. “I couldn’t walk so we were going to wait out the night and he was going to go for help in the morning. Chase was attacked when he went to get firewood. I heard him screaming,” Riley had to pause as his emotions got the better of him. He shook off the fear and sadness and looked back at the doctor. “He managed to crawl back to camp. We were found by our friends the next day, but,” 

“You two have been through an incredible ordeal.” Dr. Thomas nodded sympathetically and eyed Kendall. “If I recall correctly, Mr. Randall was admitted last month after a walk in the woods.” 

Slowly Ms. Morgan nodded. “Yes, we fell in a mineshaft while working for the museum.” 

Dr. Thomas nodded. “It sounds like he should avoid the woods during a full moon.” 

Ms. Morgan paled slightly and Riley couldn’t blame her. There was something about the doctor’s interest that didn’t seem completely medical. Whatever interest was there seemed to vanish as the doctor focused on filling them in on Chase’s condition. Riley decided not to dwell on the doctor. All that mattered was Chase’s recovery. If he recovered. 

“The gashes are impressive and many of them are already infected.” Dr. Thomas broke down Chase’s condition slowly. “He’s severely dehydrated and his body seems to be fighting off some sort of virus on top of the obvious trauma. I won’t lie to you, he is in bad shape.” 

“Will he survive?” Ms. Morgan asked, her voice broke and revealed how hard asking that question had been. 

“We’ve sutured the wounds and given him a blood transfusion. The trauma to his body is bad. Shock is a big factor, but we’ve managed to stave it off for the moment. If he response to the antibiotics he’ll have a fighting chance.” Dr. Thomas nodded. “Until then, we’ll just have to wait and see. We’ve also given him a shot to protect him against the possibility of contracting rabies. From the information you provided, I don’t believe the wolves were rabid, just hungry. The forest has been over hunted and the animals that live there have suffered for it.” 

It was not the news Riley had been hoping for. 

When the doctor left Shelby broke down into a puddle of tears. Tyler wrapped her up in his arms and Koda came up beside them and gave them both a ‘caveman’ hug. Riley closed his eyes. 

“What about his energem?” Shelby asked suddenly. 

Ms. Morgan blinked in surprise, but nodded. “Yes, yes of course!” She nodded. “It should give his body the kick it needs to fight the infection, but they would have taken it off when they brought him in and examined him.” 

“We need to get it back,” Riley nodded. 

“And slip it to him.” Tyler added confidently. 

Ms. Morgan nodded. “Alright, I think I have a plan.” 

__

It was a simple plan, not worthy of a movie plot. Ms. Morgan sweet-talked a nurse into bringing her the bag that contained Chase’s things. The only things inside the bag were Chase’s energem and the pair of boxers he had been wearing. 

Riley volunteered to take it to Chase. He gained sympathy from another nurse and explained that he was with Chase when he was attacked. 

“I need to see him.” Riley told the woman. “I need to know that he’s still alive.” 

“He’s in the ICU.” The nurse explained, but broke quickly and shrugged a shoulder. “I suppose you could visit for a few minutes.” She smiled and patted Riley’s arm. “Come with me, I’ll get you set up.” 

They made Riley change into scrubs and wear a mask over his nose and mouth and latex gloves over his hands. Skillfully Riley had managed to hide the energem when they finally let him into the room. Chase lay on the bed, pale and drawn. His eyes were closed and it looked like he was struggling to breathe. 

“Don’t be afraid.” The nurse whispered kindly. “Sit and talk to him for a bit.” She encouraged before she looked towards the door. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to collect you.” 

“Thank you.” Riley told her as she slipped out of the room. Once alone Riley slipped his hand in the pocket of the scrubs and pulled out Chase’s energem and placed it gently in Chase’s limp hand. 

“I didn’t know it was you,” Riley admitted to his sleeping friend. “I should have guessed. Maybe. Even after I threw rocks at you, you stayed with me. Please don’t die. You saved my life, Chase, I hope this will save yours.” 

The energem started to glow purple and Riley breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t know much, but he did know the energem’s held incredible power. 

“There you are,” Riley whispered. “You feel it, don’t you? It’ll help you, Chase. When you get better we’re going to figure this out. Maybe we can fix it.” He stayed quiet for a moment and watched the threads of light that had encompassed Chase’s body fade away. “You could have told me, you know, about this. I don’t understand why you didn’t.” 

“Alright, young man.” The nurse returned. Riley was a little too slow in hiding the energem. “What’s that?” She asked curiously. 

“It’s kind of silly.” Riley flushed red. “It’s a good luck charm. I thought it might help him.” 

The nurse smiled lightly and took the energem from Riley’s hand and eyed it. “I suppose a little bit of luck won’t hurt. Here,” she said and wrapped the strap loosely around Chase’s wrist and set the energem into his palm gently. “I’ll let the other nurses know not to touch it.” She winked and Riley resisted the sudden urge to give the stranger a crushing hug. 

“Thank you.” Riley said and gathered up his crutches. “I’ll be back, Chase.” He promised and limped out the door. 

__

The first thing Chase became aware of when he woke up was the sound of beeping machines. The second thing was the feeling of his energem in his hand. He closed his hand around it and sighed. It was safe. He was alive. Riley was safe. He could rest. 

“You’re fever is down.” A voice said and Chase cracked his eyes open as he startled. It was hard to open his eyes and everything was foggy. “It’s remarkable, really. I’ve never seen a patient turn a corner so quickly.” The voice was familiar, Chase noted as he tried to blink the fuzz from his vision. The man looked familiar as well. Dr. Thomas, Chase’s brain supplied slowly. 

Chase was in the hospital again. 

With a groan Chase tried to move his arms, but they were uncoordinated and flopped uselessly against the bed. 

“Don’t try and move around just yet.” The doctor said cheerfully. “You aren’t fit to run any marathons yet.” 

Chase eyed the man, too exhausted to attempt to speak. 

“You’re wounds are healing nicely,” the doctor informed him as he wrote a few things down in Chase’s chart. “I say this with slight sarcasm because you’ve only been in the hospital for a few hours.” 

Unable to stay silent any longer, Chase swallowed dryly, “good drugs.” He tried to play it off. 

“Mm,” Dr. Thomas hummed. “Maybe. Now that your fever is down we’re going to move you into the recovery ward. I’m sure your friends would love to see you, once you feel up to it.” 

“See them.” Chase muttered and tried to fight the pull of sleep. “Good.” He tried in vain to communicate clearly. 

“We’ll see how you are feeling after another nap.” Dr. Thomas said and pressed something next to Chase’s bed. A warm feeling flooded Chase’s veins and he felt airy and light. Suddenly it didn’t matter that his doctor was creeping him out. The pull of sleep dragged Chase down. 

He didn’t care. 

__

The next time Chase woke up he was surrounded by the presence of his friends. He felt safe even before he opened his eyes. 

“There he is!” Tyler greeted a little too loudly as Chase managed to blink his eyes open. He felt tired, but felt better. His body was numb instead of sore. He figured it had to do with the drugs in his system. 

“How do you feel?” Kendall asked as she took his hand in hers. 

Chase swallowed thickly and tried for a smile that turned a little loopy. “Drugged.” He laughed lightly and let his eyes scan the room. Shelby looked happy, her eyes were red-rimmed and Chase felt a little guilty for making her cry, even if it wasn’t totally his fault. Koda looked giddy and relieved, which Chase took as a good sign that he was on the mend. Riley looked withdrawn, which was worrisome. 

It had been hard for Chase in the clearing. He couldn’t blame Riley for his reaction. It had been Chase’s own fault. He should have realized the queasy feeling meant he was going to change sooner rather than later, but that symptom was still new to him. If he had been with Riley when the first waves of pain hit, it would have been far better. 

There had been no reason for Riley to know that Chase had turned into a wild animal. It wasn’t until Riley started to cry that Chase had realized Riley believed he had been killed. 

It had been hard to watch. Harder when Chase couldn’t do a thing to console his friend or tell him that everything would be all right. 

“Hey,” Chase croaked a little and winced when Riley met his eyes. “Wild times, huh?” 

Riley managed a small smile. “I didn’t know it was you.” 

“I realized that pretty quickly.” Chase offered and tried to sit up. Ms. Morgan’s hand held him back. Chase looked up at her, but gave into the mother hen routine. He had told her not to feel bad about any of this, but it didn’t look like his words had helped her feel less guilty. In all honesty, Chase hadn’t expected to live. “It all worked out in the end.” 

“You could have died.” Riley whispered. 

“I didn’t.” Chase said stubbornly. He looked at Kendall sharply. All of the pep talks could wait until later. Chase wanted to get as far away from the hospital as possible. He couldn’t remember exactly why, but suddenly he felt very uneasy. “I want to go home.” 

“Chase,” Kendall shook her head. “Your fever may have broken, but you still are terribly wounded.” 

“The energem is going to heal it,” Chase pleaded. He wrapped his hand around her wrist and closed his eyes. “I can’t stay here.” 

“Why?” Shelby asked. “Is it the money?” 

Chase hadn’t even thought about paying the hospital bills. Kendall had helped him the first time, but it had been a tight thing. “Ugh, I hadn’t even thought about that. No, I just, I don’t feel right here. Something’s wrong.” 

“All the more reason for you to stay.” Kendall pointed out. 

“Not physically.” Chase tried to explain. “I can’t really describe it.” 

“The energem is healing his wounds faster than a normal human should heal.” Riley piped up helpfully. “If he signs out against medical advice, we should be able to take care of him ourselves. If he stays here people are going to start asking questions we can’t answer.” 

“Maybe Keeper can help.” Tyler pointed out. 

“Chase better.” Koda nodded. “Chase go home.” 

Kendall didn’t look completely convinced, but backed down since she was outnumbered. “Fine. I’ll go talk to the nurse about the paperwork.” She adjusted her glasses and glanced down at Chase one last time before she left the room. 

“So, were you going to tell us?” Shelby asked. Her voice was hard, but softer than Chase expected. He knew the question was coming. He deserved it. 

With closed eyes Chase took a deep breath. 

“Shelby.” Tyler warned, but Chase shook his head. 

“No, it’s a fair question.” He agreed and looked at his friends. “It’s not that – no, I was afraid to tell you. My family, you have to understand, I lost one family because of this, I didn’t want to lose you guys too. Koda and Kendall were incredibly kind when they learned about, uh, my condition. I wasn’t so certain I’d get so lucky a second time. Luck hasn’t exactly been my friend all these years.” 

“Your family abandoned you?” Tyler asked, stricken by the information. Chase nodded sadly, but didn’t elaborate. He didn’t want to think about his family. It hurt too much. 

The nurse returned with Kendall. Chase noted that she did not look happy. “Mr. Randall, I must advice you to stay at least another couple of days, your wounds could easily become infected again.” 

“I appreciate your concern.” Chase told her, kind yet firm. “But I can’t stay here. I understand the risk, I’ll sign whatever papers necessary, but I am leaving.” 

The nurse huffed and folded her arms over her chest. “We could sedate him,” she told Kendall. “You are his medical proxy and he isn’t exactly thinking straight.” 

Kendall looked about ready to snap the woman’s neck. “He is well enough.” She boomed. “You will not drug him into oblivion.” 

“Of, of course not,” the nurse back peddled. “I only meant that it would be better if he remained where he could be monitored.” 

“We will take care of him.” Kendall said stubbornly and stared down the nurse until she left the room to fetch the paperwork. 

“Whoa.” Tyler breathed as Shelby whistled. “Glad you’re on our side.” 

“You have no idea.” Kendall raised an eyebrow at Chase who was grinning. “I wouldn’t smile, Chase. When we get back to the lab you aren’t going to move unless I say it is okay. You will eat what you are given in its entirety and without complaint. You will recover smoothly and if there is even the slightest sign that you are developing a fever again you are coming straight back here.” 

Chase paled a little, the smile long gone from his face. “Ah, come on Kendall.” He tried to gain a little sympathy. Kendall folded her arms across her chest and Chase really considered whether escaping the hospital was worth it. 

The feeling returned and Chase shuddered a little as he closed his eyes. 

Yes. No matter what horrors awaited him with Kendall, he knew he’d feel much safer surrounded by friends rather than strangers.


	8. Chapter 8

The energem helped Chase heal quickly and somehow Chase survived telling the new team members about his past. Although he had been worried about being rejected, his friends continued to stand by his side. 

“Is there a way we can fix this?” Shelby asked after she wrapped Chase up in a gentle hug. Chase took a moment before he returned the gesture. His eyes locked with Riley who had his ‘thinking’ face on. 

“If it’s a curse, it should be able to be lifted, right?” Riley said thoughtfully. “Not that I know a whole lot about curses. Apart from childhood fairytales and Chase isn’t exactly your typical ‘damsel’ in distress.” 

“Hey,” Chase frowned at the comparison. 

“What about ‘true loves kiss?’” Tyler suggested with such innocence that the other rangers couldn’t give him too much crap about such a cheesy suggestion. 

“I don’t think that is a logical solution.” Kendall said kindly. “There are other things we can try, but it may take a while before we figure it out.” She looked at Chase sadly. “I’m sorry I – ”

“This wasn’t your fault.” Chase interrupted with a slow smile. “If anyone is to blame it’s my father.” 

“Could we talk to your dad?” Riley asked. “Maybe he’ll tell you something new.” 

“I doubt it.” Chase shook his head and buried his face in his hands. “Gah, if he knows the wolf’s back he won’t even let me through the door. I’d never be allowed to see Chloe again. No, it’s not an option.” His mind thought about Chloe. His sister never knew about his ‘condition.’ His parents told him not to tell her. She was innocent. She didn’t need to know. 

“That isn’t fair.” Shelby frowned. “He did this to you and he won’t even help you?” 

“The witch did this.” Chase shrugged, although he wasn’t quite certain why he was defending his father. “I don’t think he knows much anyway. He never wanted to. He cut his losses when he kicked me out.” 

“He might know where to find the witch that did this.” Riley pointed out.

“I’d rather not anger her further.” Chase said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t forgive myself if she did this to any of you. What if she did something worse? It’s not worth the risk.” 

Silence filled the room at the unknown possibilities. Clearly none of his friends had considered that outcome. Chase was glad he pointed it out. He could deal with ‘wolfing’ out during the full moon cycle, even if it was excruciating. What he couldn’t survive was watching his friends go through the same pain. Or something worse.

“We’ll save that as a last resort.” Kendall told Chase. 

Chase nodded, but knew in his heart that he would never let it come to that. 

__

Things went back to ‘normal’ after that, at least for a few days. Things started to shift when Tyler and Riley became convinced that Tyler’s father was trapped inside Fury. Chase was almost grateful when the attention was pulled away from him and his impossible problem. 

The only person that still seemed to be able to multitask was Riley. 

“What’cha reading?” Chase said as he slid into the lab and spotted Riley reading at the picnic table. 

“A book on New Zealand mythology.” Riley said with a shy smile. Chase’s eyes widened a little, but softened as he sat across from Riley. 

“Anything interesting?” Chase asked. He recognized the cover of the book. He’d read it when he was eleven.

“Nothing concrete.” Riley sighed and closed the book. “Nothing useful.” He sighed and looked at Chase with that look Riley got when he was about to apologize. Again. 

“Okay,” Chase interrupted before Riley could from the words. “I’ve already said I’ve forgiven you, what do I have to do to make you believe me?” 

Riley smiled shyly and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure I’ve forgiven myself.” He admitted to Chase. “I thought you were dead. I never believed you could, well,” 

“That’s on me.” Chase pointed out. “I’m the one who didn’t tell you about my, uh, condition.” He shrugged. “There was no reason for you to believe that I was the wolf. I realized pretty quickly that you thought I’d killed…myself, or the wolf had killed me. Wow, that’s confusing.”

“It is.” Riley nodded with a small, bemused smile. “But it’s over now and you are right, I need to move on. I’m glad I know about your, uh, condition.” Riley said the word slowly. “I want to help, but I honestly don’t know how.” 

“It’s not that bad, really.” Chase told his friend. “It’s actually way better than it was before. I’m human, for the most part, and four days as the wolf isn’t going to kill me.” 

“But the pain,” Riley whispered. 

“Yeah, that sucks.” Chase nodded. “But it’s worth it to be human for the majority of the time. I can deal with the pain. Hopefully during the next full moon I won’t be lost out in the woods somewhere.” 

“We aren’t going to make that mistake again.” Riley promised. “I’ve got a reminder set on my phone and I think Kendall has come up with several plans to make sure you don’t get as sick as you did the last few times.” 

“That’s good.” Chase nodded and smiled lightly. “It’s nice not being alone in this. I’m glad I have you guy to help me, even if I’m never fully ‘cured’ of my, well, condition.”

Riley looked a little sad, but nodded. “I just wish you hadn’t been alone before.” 

“The past is behind us.” Chase said and smiled brightly. “What we really should be focusing on is freeing Tyler’s dad.” 

“Right.” Riley nodded. “I’ve got a few theories about that as well.” 

“I’d love to hear them!” Chase grinned. 

__

It wasn’t Tyler’s dad inside of Fury. 

“He’s been trapped for so long.” Shelby was saying as they sat together in the lab. Ivan was reluctant at first, but he had eventually been impressed enough to join the power rangers team. Or rather Shelby impressed him enough. 

Chase rubbed at his back and tried to forget the feeling of having his ‘back bone’ removed from his body. It had hurt. Not as much as nearly being ripped apart by a pack of wolves, but it had still hurt. The uncontrollable fear had been pretty terrible too. He glanced at his friends and noticed that both Tyler and Koda still looked a little green. Riley met his eyes knowingly and Chase nodded. It was over and they were all right. 

For the moment that was the only thing that mattered. 

“Chase, maybe you should talk to him.” Kendall said very slowly. Chase looked at her and narrowed his eyes. 

“Huh?” He wasn’t certain why he was the one she had chosen. Ivan was a however-many-decades-old knight. Chase was just a part time wolf. 

Kendall shifted a little nervously and adjusted her glasses. “I know it’s not the same thing, but you spent a lot of your life trapped inside the wolf, separated from the world and still living in it.” 

“But I was in control of the wolf.” Chase pointed out. 

“It’s not quite the same,” Tyler agreed, but nodded. He was siding with Kendall, Chase realized even before Tyler continued. “But in a way you guys are kind of similar.” 

“What about Koda?” Chase asked. He hated to bring Koda into the conversation, but he also didn’t like that he was being singled out, either. 

Koda shook his head. “I asleep in ice.”

Chase deflated a little, but nodded. “I don’t know what you want me to say to him, but I guess I can talk to Ivan.” He sighed and shook his head. Although his friends had been very kind and accepting about his ‘other’ form, Chase wasn’t holding his breath that the trend would continue. 

Sooner or later someone was going to react like his family had. 

“He should know about your, um, condition, anyway.” Shelby pointed out. “Just in case you end up trapped with him during the next full moon.” 

“Ha ha.” Chase said without a trace of real humor. It was a running joke within the team. The last two full moon cycles hadn’t exactly been ideal. If things continued the way they had Chase would end up lost in the woods with Ivan when he turned. 

“Chase,” Kendall started, but Chase shook his head and stood. 

“No, I get it. I’ll tell him.” He sighed and frowned. “Where is he?” 

“He wanted to go walk down by the ocean.” Tyler said. “He’s probably still at North Beach, that’s where I dropped him off. I’ll give you a ride.” 

“I’ll come too.” Riley offered. 

Chase shook his head. “Nah, thanks, but it’s not that far and I’d rather go alone if I’m going to do this.” 

The others looked a little guilty, but nodded and Chase turned and left the lab. He didn’t like the idea of telling Ivan his secret, but he understood that it was important. Ivan was part of the team and he needed to know about his new teammates. Including their weaknesses. 

“Sir Chase.” Ivan greeted when he spotted Chase walking down the beach to meet him. Ivan was sitting in the sand facing the curling water. Chase plopped down beside him and leaned back and admired the view. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” The knight asked. 

“The others thought you might like to talk.” Chase said honestly and glanced at Ivan. He looked better. Shelby had helped him buy modern clothes. The pink ranger had a good sense of style. 

Ivan frowned and nodded sharply. “Although I appreciate the kind gesture, I don’t think I have much to say.” 

Chase nodded. He understood that. “They also thought you should know, uh, that I should tell you something about me.” 

The knight blinked a little and leaned back to better look at Chase. “A secret?” He guessed. 

“Yeah,” Chase nodded. “It isn’t something I enjoy talking about.” He admitted and cleared his throat a little. 

“If you choose to honor me by revealing your secret, I promise never to speak of it again, if you so desire.” Ivan said sincerely. 

Chase smiled, although he wasn’t sure that ‘never speaking of it again’ was an option. “It’s really not that simple. So, when I was ten my father angered a witch and she used her magic to curse me. For the last few years I spent the majority of my time living as a wolf. I was only human during the full moon cycle.” 

Ivan didn’t speak right away. He didn’t move away either. Chase took that as a good sign and continued. 

“After I bonded with my energem things changed. I thought it had broken the curse since I remained human after the full moon cycle ended. Everything was fine until the next full moon cycle. I turned into a wolf, but the transformation process had changed. Keeper thinks it has something to do with my energem slowing down the process in an attempt to help me, but instead it makes it very painful to turn into the wolf and then back into my human form.” 

“So, you are a werewolf?” Ivan said with narrowed eyes. 

“No,” Chase winced. “Not really. I’m in full control when I’m the wolf. I know exactly what I’m doing and what is happening around me. As far as I know I can’t curse anyone else, at least I haven’t so far.” 

“Thank you for sharing your secret.” Ivan said slowly. His eyes were narrowed and he was no longer looking directly at Chase. Chase’s heart fell in his chest. Ivan was still getting used to being in the modern age and being free, it was unfair to ambush him with Chase’s woes. 

“When I was trapped inside Fury I felt no pain,” Ivan said suddenly. “It was lonely and the darkness of Fury’s soul was a constant, crushing weight. I fought when I could manage it, but the battle was not in my favor. I weakened easily and for a long, long time I feared I would never regain my freedom.” 

“It must have been hard.” Chase said as he tried to imagine what that might have felt like. It sounded awful. 

“It was.” Ivan nodded. “I owe my freedom to you and the other rangers. I will protect you with my life if the need arises. Your secret will not be used against you. I will protect you as well as your other form.” 

Chase blinked at Ivan and Ivan met his gaze. 

“You are surprised.” Ivan said slowly. “Why?” 

Inhaling deeply Chase tried to explain. “I guess I have abandonment issues. My family took one look at me as a wolf and said I didn’t belong with them anymore.”

“Your family does not have the same honor that you hold in your heart.” Ivan said carefully. Chase was grateful that Ivan didn’t simply say his family didn’t have honor. Chase didn’t hate his family for what they had done to him. He loved them, even if they weren’t able to accept him or the curse. 

“I’m glad I told you,” Chase said with an easy smile. “Now, do you want to try frozen yogurt for the first time?” 

Ivan’s eyes lit up a little and he nodded. “Your world is certainly fascinating.” 

“That it is.” Chase grinned and helped the knight up. 

__

When Chase first learned that Chloe was coming to visit he barely believed it. It didn’t feel real until she was standing on the stage of the museum preforming a traditional New Zealand dance. 

Chase knew he had Kendall to thank for arranging the performance. The visit was all together too short and far too interrupted. Chase was grateful he had gotten to see Chloe, even if it wasn’t the visit he had hoped for. Chase was pretty certain he would have nightmares about Chloe being targeted by monsters for the rest of his life. His heart hurt just thinking about how terrified his sister had been and how he couldn’t get to her. 

Chase owed Prince Philip more than he could ever repay. 

The plane ticket was a surprise. Chase hadn’t asked, but he knew that his mother had to have been the one to purchase the ticket. Chloe had been emailing Chase on almost a daily bases. Chase was aware that his parents were separated and Chloe had mentioned talk of divorce. 

Chase wondered what had set his parents over the edge. He couldn’t feel too guilty. If his parents were going to get divorced because of his condition, it would have happened a long, long time ago. 

No, their divorce wasn’t on Chase’s conscience. 

“A prince power ranger.” Riley said as he joined Chase at the table in the lab. Chase grinned at Riley and nodded. 

“It’s not the weirdest thing, if you think about it.” Chase pointed out. “I mean, we also have a caveman and a authentic knight on the team.” 

“And a shape shifter.” Riley said carefully. 

Chase frowned. “Shape shifter? I think that’s glorifying my condition a bit.” 

Riley shrugged a shoulder. “You aren’t a werewolf and you do shift your shape, even if it’s not a controlled change.” 

“I suppose you’re right.” Chase smirked. He liked the idea of being a shape shifter opposed to a werewolf. It made it sound less dangerous. “Okay, I’m a shape shifter.”

With a grin Riley stood and stretched. “Well, I should probably head home, it’s a big day tomorrow.” 

“A big day?” Chase asked with a sly smile. He didn’t want to be the one who gave away the surprise. He knew that it was Riley’s birthday, but Shelby had insisted that they keep the party a surprise. 

Chase had never been to a surprise party before, but the idea of it was exciting. He was happy that they were doing something special for Riley. 

“Yeah,” Riley sobered a little and glanced at Chase. “You know, the dig.” 

“Oh, right.” Chase nodded and tried not to smile. “I’ve been to that location before. There’s this giant sand dune that would be epic to surf down.” 

“Sand surfing?” Riley raised an eyebrow. 

“Yeah, I did it a few times back home in New Zealand.” Chase nodded. “Whenever I was in human form I liked to try new things.” 

“Sounds kind of, dangerous.” Riley said skeptically. 

“Nah, it was a blast.” Chase promised and stood. “Well, like you said we should probably get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day, after all.” He winked and walked Riley out of the museum. 

Tomorrow would be fun. Chase decided not to dwell on the fact that the full moon cycle was less than a week away. 

__

As it turned out, ‘tomorrow’ was not fun. In fact, it was the worst day Chase had lived through in a while. Suddenly he no longer felt connected to his friends and they obviously felt the same way. 

“Stay away from me, you mangy dog.” Ivan said before he pushed Chase down. 

“You look more comfortable on all fours.” Shelby commented as she walked passed him, still searching for her wayward phone. 

Chase’s face burned with humiliation and anger. When he saw the monster fighting Koda and Riley he couldn’t bring himself to care. He was a lone wolf and he had always known it. People would only hurt him. He wasn’t human enough to be among them.

Chase was tired of hurting. 

Leaving was the best idea Chase could come up with. His sister had left him a plane ticket for Christmas, maybe that meant his mother would accept him again. Of course, without his energem Chase knew he would likely become the wolf again. It didn’t matter. People had let him down. Being a human wasn’t something Chase wanted anymore, not if it meant feeling so betrayed. 

Somehow Riley and Koda had fixed the problem. Chase felt the betrayal leave his system and stared at Tyler and the others. “Why did we treat each other like that?” He asked for the group as he reattached his energem to the strap around his neck. 

“It was monster’s fault.” Koda explained with a cheerful smile. “But now we go stop them.” 

Stop them they did, but it didn’t take the memories away. Chase tried to push his insecurities away, he tried to focus on Riley and making what remained of his birthday better, but the doubt echoed in the back of his mind. 

Did his friends think less of him for being an animal? 

“Thanks for this.” Riley told Chase as the party slowed down. 

Chase looked at him and smiled. “It wasn’t just me. Shelby was the master ringer.” 

“Yeah, but I could tell you made the cake.” Riley grinned. “It was pretty amazing.” 

“I knew you were a chocoholic like me.” Chase shared the grin and tried to live in the moment. He didn’t want to bring Riley down on his day, well, anymore than he already had. “I’m just glad that monster didn’t succeed.” 

“Yeah,” Riley nodded. “Me too. Hey, so the full moon cycle starts in two days, do you have any plans yet?” 

Chase shook his head. “No. Kendall wants me to spend the four days here in the lab. I suppose it’s for the best. I’m really only able to move around during the two days.” He shrugged. 

“I want to be there for you.” Riley said sincerely. “The way you were there for me in the woods. I want to protect you.” 

Chase smiled, the doubt he had been feeling melted away as he looked into Riley’s eyes. “I’d like that, although I don’t think I’ll need much protecting this time.” He winked. “Nope, I’m avoiding the woods like the plague.” 

“Probably a solid plan.” Riley laughed. “I still want to be there for you.” 

“Thanks Riles,” Chase said and resisted the sudden urge he had to kiss Riley. He blinked a little and pulled back, too afraid that he might give his feelings away. “Well, happy birthday.” 

“Thanks.” Riley said with a shy smile. “It ended up being pretty great.”


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning Chase opened his door and found Dr. Thomas staring back at him. “Oh, uh, Dr. Thomas, what are you doing here?” Chase glanced nervously down the hallway of his apartment building and noted sourly that none of his neighbors were around. They rarely were. 

“I’ve come to check on you,” Dr. Thomas said kindly and eyed Chase with a calculating gaze. Chase immediately felt uncomfortable and closed his apartment door behind him. “You look well.” Dr. Thomas said casually as Chase locked the door. 

“Yeah,” Chase said and juggled his keys a bit to alleviate some nerves. “I healed up, eventually.” 

“You aren’t planning on hanging around any wooded areas this full moon, are you?” The doctor asked mysteriously. 

“Nope.” Chase felt his throat go a bit dry. “I’m going to avoid camping this weekend, I promise.” 

Dr. Thomas nodded, but he still stood in Chase’s way. Chase’s apartment door was on the opposite side of hall where the staircase was located. It had never felt so inconvenient before. 

“That’s probably for the best.” Dr. Thomas said and shifted slightly, as if he was debating on something. 

“I’m actually late for work,” Chase said spontaneously. “Is there anything you need? I’m pretty sure I paid all my bills.” Not that a doctor would drop by for a house call to collect bills, Chase thought darkly. He was nervous and uncomfortable and did not like the fact that a stranger knew where he lived, even if it was written on his hospital forms. 

“Oh, right.” The doctor said, suddenly as nervous as Chase felt. “I’ll let you go. No, you don’t have any bills, I was just worried about your recovery.” 

That seemed strange, Chase thought as he motioned for the doctor to lead the way to the staircase. After a moment Dr. Thomas nodded again and walked to the stairs and led Chase down them. 

“It was nice seeing you again.” Chase lied and strapped on his helmet as his fingers trembled slightly. He hoped the doctor didn’t notice. “I really have to go.” 

“No problem.” The doctor nodded and shifted again, his hand hovered near his pocket, but he pulled it away and rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps I’ll see you around.” 

“Maybe.” Chase said and glided his skateboard on the sidewalk before he hopped on it and boarded away as fast as possible. 

__

“You look freaked out.” Tyler commented as Chase appeared at the café. “Are you alright?” 

“Not really.” Chase admitted as he unclipped his helmet and glanced around. “Have you seen Kendall?” 

“Ms. Morgan is in the lab.” Shelby answered as she came up to Tyler’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?” 

“Probably nothing.” Chase said and forced himself to walk to the lab. He wanted to run, but he didn’t want to alarm the others if it wasn’t necessary. Chase hoped there was some sort of logical explanation. He hoped he was just being paranoid. 

In the lab Kendall was there peering into a microscope. “Kendall,” he said, alerting her that she was no longer alone. 

“Chase,” Kendall said as she looked up from her work. “You’re here early. Doesn’t your shift start in a few hours?” 

“I had a visitor this morning.” Chase said. He kept his voice as even as possible, but some of the concern must have leaked out because Kendall eyed him sharply. “Dr. Thomas came by my apartment.” 

“Dr. Thomas,” Kendall frowned. “Why would he do that?” 

“He said it was to check up on me, but,” Chase shook his head. “He creeps me the heck out.” 

Kendall’s sharp expression softened. “Chase, he may have just been curious how you healed up. You did leave the hospital when you were still in pretty bad shape.” 

“No, he was asking me questions about the full moon,” Chase shook his head. “He asked me if I was going to be in the woods again.” 

Kendall shook her head. “There’s no reason for you to be worried. Sure it’s a little strange that he didn’t just call you, but he may have just been curious. There’s no DNA evidence that you are any different than anyone else. He shouldn’t suspect anything other than you being accident prone.” 

Chase took in a deep breath and tried to consider the logic behind Kendall’s words. Maybe he was over reacting. “You really don’t think he knows?” 

“Knows what?” Kendall raised her eyebrow. “That you turn into a wolf? How could he possibly know something like that?” 

Chase shook his head. Kendall was right. There was no DNA proof. There was no way for the doctor to suspect that Chase was different than the rest of the world. 

“You’re right.” Chase sighed. “But for the record he still gives me the creeps.” 

“Noted.” Kendall grinned. “Relax, Chase. Nothing is going to happen to you this time. We’ve got it all planned out. We’re going to pump you full of painkillers and keep you hydrated. It’ll be fine. Or, well, at least better than the last two full moon cycles.” 

Again Chase nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” He sighed. “I guess I’m just nervous. I kind of lost track of time before, now I’m very aware it’s coming. I guess I’m a little afraid.” 

“That’s understandable.” Kendall nodded and patted his shoulder gently. “If you need a distraction you can start your shift early.” 

For once, Chase did just that. Working wasn’t exactly fun, but it did keep his mind off of turning into a wolf and crazy creepy doctors lurking outside of his home. 

__ 

“Hey, are you alright?” Riley asked as Chase helped him close down the café. 

“Yeah,” Chase answered. It was a lie. Chase was nervous about a lot of things and working the entire day had only helped so much. “Just, you know, thinking about tomorrow night.” 

Riley nodded knowingly. “I can’t imagine.” He admitted. “Do you want to stay with me tonight? We could camp out at my place for a bit, so you don’t have to be alone.” 

Chase flinched a little at the word ‘camp,’ but managed a smile. “That actually sounds pretty awesome. I’ll head over as soon as I swing by my place and grab some clothes and my toothbrush.”

“Good,” Riley grinned. “That’ll give me enough time to clean up a bit.” 

“Psh, like you aren’t a neat freak.” Chase teased and waved a little as he left the café and headed back to his apartment. He was grateful he wouldn’t have to be alone that night. His mind was already on edge and Riley made him feel safe. 

It was ironic, really. Riley’s reaction to Chase’s wolf-side was less than ideal, but somehow it had made them closer as friends. Chase hoped it wasn’t just guilt that made Riley want help him, but Chase was willing to take what he could get. He knew, in his heart, that Riley was something special. 

The streetlights were burnt out in front of Chase’s apartment complex. They had been for the last week. The electricians had been notified, but apparently hadn’t gotten around to fixing the problem. The moon, which Chase checked with a neurotic tendency, was bright in the sky, but not quite in the full moon phase. 

Shadows danced as the wind picked up and sent the surrounding trees into a slow, eerie dance. Chase’s hearing felt overloaded as the leaves rustled above him and the wind whistled as it gusted. Along with the leaves and the wind were the sounds of cars driving passed on the main road. All the sounds were over-heighted in Chase’s sensitive ears. 

It got that way before the transformation, Chase realized. He could smell things stronger too. Somewhere someone was having a barbeque and the dumpster on the side of the street was rank with various decaying things. 

Chase wrinkled his noise and fumbled a little with his keys as he walked up to the entrance of his building. 

The wind picked up again and Chase frowned. There was another scent on the air, one that was strangely familiar, but he couldn’t quite place. He sniffed again and turned slowly. 

Arms wrapped around him from the dark as a shadow became a man. A cloth was placed over Chase’s face and a sweet smell flooded his nose. He whimpered and struggled, but Chase’s efforts were in vain. His knees crumbled as the fight drained out of him and his strength disappeared. 

Chase was fading when the arms released him and patted his head gently. 

It wasn’t a monster, Chase realized as his body hit the ground. 

It was a human. 

__

Riley whistled a little as he set up his apartment. Chase had a point when he accused Riley of being a neat freak. Riley liked things in order, but he also didn’t mind letting things go on occasion. He definitely wasn’t willing to risk Chase teasing him for not picking up his dirty laundry. 

Chase fascinated Riley. He was so easy going and life loving despite the curse he lived with. The wolf was also interesting. Riley remembered how Chase’s wolf-form had protected him with valor and courage. Riley wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to repay Chase for risking his life like that. Especially after the way Riley had treated his wolf-side. 

Although Riley had accepted that Chase was right and that there had been no way for Riley to know that Chase was the wolf, he couldn’t help but feel guilty. The guilt wasn’t what drew Riley to Chase, though. Chase was like a magnet. His smiles and good cheer were infectious. 

When Riley had noticed Chase acting distracted and sad during their shift together, Riley knew he had to do something to cheer the black ranger up. Chase would have done the same for any of their teammates. It was only fair that someone look after Chase. 

With a frown Riley glanced at his clock. Chase must have gotten a bit distracted, it was already well over two hours since they had left the café. 

A tickle of worry fluttered in the back of Riley’s mind, but he pushed it aside. Chase had gotten better at maintaining focus, but he was still easily distracted. There were a ton of reasons Riley could think of that would hold Chase up. 

Still, Riley couldn’t shake that nagging feeling that something was wrong. 

He picked up his phone and gave into the urge and dialed Chase’s number. It rang, and rang and finally went to voice mail. 

Riley’s frown deepened. “Don’t overreact.” Riley told himself cautiously, but it was already too late. He reached for his dino com and punched in Chase’s sequence. 

No response. 

His heart leapt as he stared at the dino com’s black screen. Chase always answered his dino com. Always. The one time he didn’t he had been in trouble. Worry kicked into a higher gear and Riley dialed Kendall as he moved to grab his scooter’s keys. 

“Riley,” Kendall looked wide awake and Riley could see the lab behind her. Sometimes Riley wondered if Kendall lived in the lab like Koda. 

“Ms. Morgan, I think Chase is in trouble.” Riley said quickly as he left his apartment and locked the door behind him. 

She blinked and frowned. “What happened?” She asked tightly. 

“He was supposed to come to my apartment and he never showed up,” Riley explained. “Now he’s not answering his phone or his dino com. He seemed stressed at work earlier, I can’t explain it, something’s wrong.” 

Kendall looked worried, or at least as worried as she allowed herself to look when she was very, very worried. “Riley, I thought he was being paranoid, but now I’m not so sure. Go to his apartment, I’ll meet you there.” 

“What do you mean?” Riley tried to ask, but Kendall had already ended the connection. Riley shook his head and strapped on his helmet. For once his scooter started right away and Riley was speeding down the road towards Chase’s apartment complex. 

__

Ms. Morgan beat him there. “He’s not answering.” Kendall said as Riley joined her at Chase’s door. She pulled out a key ring and pushed a key into the lock. 

“You have his spare key?” Riley asked with surprise. 

Kendall managed a small smile. “Have you met Chase? He loses his keys ever other day. Although in his defense for most of his life he never had to pay attention to such things.” 

Riley couldn’t bring himself to laugh as they entered Chase’s apartment. It occurred to Riley as he stood in the small, neat space that he had never been inside Chase’s apartment before. 

“And he called me a neat freak.” Riley muttered as he looked around. The interior of the apartment was bare bones, but everything also had its place. The only thing out of place was a book laying on the coffee table and a game console controller on the floor in front of the small TV. 

There were no obvious signs that Chase had ever been there, let alone gotten his things together to stay over at Riley’s place. 

“He doesn’t have much,” Kendall nodded and took in the space. Riley got the feeling that she had been there before. “Everything is here, except for his skateboard and helmet.” 

“Maybe he never made it home.” Riley said and frowned. “What did you mean when you said you thought he was being paranoid?” 

Kendall ducked her head a little and led Riley back out of the apartment. She locked the door and started to explain. “He told me that Doctor Thomas had showed up here this morning and was acting strange. Well, stranger than showing up at a former patience home unannounced. Dr. Thomas seemed harmless enough, I thought it was just a coincidence, but now that Chase is missing I’m not so sure.” 

“You think the doctor might have taken Chase?” Riley asked with wide eyes. 

“I don’t know.” Kendall admitted as they stood outside the building. “Wait, what’s that?” She whispered and moved over to a line of bushes on the other side of the sidewalk. “Oh no.” She whispered and revealed what she had found. 

Even in the shadow of night Riley could see it was Chase’s skateboard. 

“So he has been taken.” Riley whispered and looked up at the moon accusingly. Chase would start to change within the next twenty-four hours and there would be no one there to help him through it. “Do you really think it was the doctor?” Riley asked Kendall as she stared at the skateboard. 

“I don’t know.” She whispered brokenly. “He was – I should have listened to him. We could have taken precautions and I just ignored him.” 

“We need to call in the others.” Riley said firmly. “This isn’t the time to point fingers, we need to get him back before he turns.” 

Kendall nodded and visibly pushed down her emotions. “You’re right, Riley. I’ll call in the others, you drive.” She tossed him the keys to the museum vehicle as she pulled out her dino com.” 

__

There was no sign of Chase. 

“We know he was taken,” Tyler said as he paced the lab. “But by who? Maybe it was Sledge.” 

“No, it was too quiet to have been a monster.” Riley commented as he looked over Kendall’s shoulder and watched her hack into the hospital’s records. “That doctor had to have taken him. It can’t be a coincidence that he showed up the morning before Chase’s disappearance.” 

“Riley’s right.” Shelby nodded. 

“Doctor bad.” Koda growled and slammed his closed fist into his open hand. “Punch in face.” 

“Not until we know where Chase is.” Kendall said calmly. “We should contact the hospital. We need to talk with Dr. Thomas.” 

“I’ll call.” Riley offered and pulled out his phone. He got the number from Kendall’s computer screen and dialed. 

“Amber Beach Medical.” A cheerful voice answered on the other end of the line. 

“Hi, I am trying to get in contact with my doctor, Dr. Alexander Thomas.” Riley said and quickly made up a lie. “I tried to call his office directly, but he hasn’t been answering my calls.” 

“Oh, Doctor Thomas is on vacation.” The receptionist said. “Is there a medical emergency? If so, you should come to the hospital and we’ll set you up with a temporary doctor until Dr. Thomas is back in town.” 

Riley’s heart started to beat faster at the information he was getting. “Oh, well, it isn’t an emergency, I just had a few questions for him. Do you know when he is supposed to get back from vacation?” 

The other rangers were listening carefully as Riley spoke. Shelby’s eyes were wide and Kendall looked stricken with guilt. 

“He’s scheduled to return in a week,” the receptionist supplied easily. 

“Thank you.” Riley said and hung up the phone before the woman could respond. “It has to be the doctor.” 

“Here’s all the information I managed to find on him,” Kendall said as she waved a hand at the screen. “Apparently the doctors don’t like putting down their home addresses for the public to see, but I hacked into his personal file on the Hospital’s server.”

“So we have an address.” Tyler frowned. “But how do we do this? What if he doesn’t have Chase?” 

Kendall frowned and glanced at Riley who met her eyes. “All the evidence points to him.” She pointed out. 

“But there is a chance it was someone else. We have to be careful.” 

__

“I think its safe to say that this is our guy.” Tyler said as he eyed the wall covered in surveillance pictures of Chase and clippings of articles from New Zealand that dated back over the last few years. There were photographed pictures of a wolf with black fur and articles that mention a boy stealing clothes and food that lived mysteriously out in the woods. 

“Do you think Chase knows about these?” Riley asked Kendall who was reading one of the clippings with opened mouth horror. 

“I don’t think so.” Kendall said as she turned her eyes away from the ‘horror’ wall and searched the rest of the living area. 

“Check this out.” Shelby said and handed Kendall a worn leather journal. “This guy is a freak. He, I don’t even know, is obsessed with potential supernatural events.” 

Riley moved to look over Kendall’s shoulder as she flipped through the pages. There were scribbled writings and pictures of people with labels. The people in the picture were in bad shape. As if they had been tortured. Kendall wasn’t even sure they were alive when their photograph was taken. “Oh, no.” Kendall breathed as she looked back at the horror wall. 

Werewolf was written on one of Chase’s pictures. 

“We need to find him.” Kendall told the others. “This guy is out there hurting and potentially killing people who seem different. Chase is actually different.” 

“He hunt Chase.” Koda said as he eyed the wall. “We hunt him.” 

Ivan frowned, one hand on his sword as he considered the room. “If that man isn’t holding sir Chase here, where is he?”

“Where is Chase?” Riley breathed and wondered what horrors Chase was going through. 

__

His head throbbed as he woke up. His vision was blurry and his throat ached for water. 

“It’s awake.” A familiar voice echoed off the rusty brick walls. Chase rolled his head to the side and glanced around. He was on a metal surface. It was cold. Like an exam table without any padding. There were straps over his body and an IV attached to the back of his hand. An unknown liquid was dripping into the needle embedded in his vein. 

“Waz hap’ening?” Chase slurred as he tried to focus on the man looming over him. The white coat was unnerving and all Chase could really focus on. 

“I’ve been watching you for a while,” the male voice said as it adjusted the strap around Chase’s chest. It was tight. Almost too tight to breathe right. “I had to make sure I was right before I captured you.” 

“Right?” Chase echoed as he tried to follow along. Nothing was making any sense. His brain was filled with fog. “Riles?” He called. Wasn’t he supposed to be with Riley? Was Riley okay?

“Your friends are of no interest to me.” The man said soothingly. “They won’t find you. Not unless I’m successful.” 

“S-ssessful.” Chase slurred again and tried to shake his head clear. The harsh movement made the room spin dangerously. “What?” 

The man’s face came into focus of a second before everything blurred again. “I know what you are, Mr. Randall. I’m going to cure you, or if I can’t, I’m going to kill you.” 

That didn’t sound at all pleasant.

Chase was in serious trouble.


	10. Chapter 10

“The computers aren’t picking up his energem frequency.” Kendall said late into the next morning. They were running out of time. 

“Is there a way we can boost the signal?” Tyler asked. 

“Yes, maybe,” Kendall shook her head. “Not in time, though. Chase is going to turn tonight and if that doctor witnesses it – I don’t want to think about what will happen.” 

“I looked through the journal.” Riley swallowed thickly. “From what I read Dr. Thomas believes he’s helping his victims. It’s like he’s trying to cure them from whatever he thinks they are. When he can’t fix them, he kills them.” A shiver ran down Riley’s spine at the thought of Chase being trapped with such a deranged man. “If we’re going to save Chase, we need to do it soon.” 

“How long does the doctor keep them alive?” Tyler asked very slowly. 

Riley closed his eyes and shook his head. “It’s different with each one. I think we may have until the end of the moon phase, but Chase isn’t going to be treated well. He’s going to be tortured.” 

“We need to save him now.” Shelby nodded and looked at the tablet she was using. “But how? There are no records of Dr. Thomas having any other properties. Where would he have taken Chase? How can we find him?” 

“We’ll think of something.” Tyler said confidently. “We always do.” 

__

Chase’s world was a haze of pain and drugs.

“This should keep you quiet.” The doctor said as he slipped a collar around Chase’s neck. The black ranger tried to flinch away from the device, but was unable to. “It’s a shock collar,” the doctor explained. “If you yell or scream it will punish you.” 

Chase glared at the man and watched as he fingered a small remote. He pressed down on the trigger and Chase’s body seized as an electric jolt shot through him. He was too shocked to scream, which was probably a good thing. 

“I thought you might appreciate a demonstration.” The doctor laughed and patted Chase’s bare shoulder. He was naked and tied down on the metal bed. Even his energem had been taken from him. 

“Please,” Chase whispered. Talking didn’t seem to activate the device, so Chase continued. “Please let me go.” 

“No.” The doctor shook his head as he poked at the crook in Chase’s arm. “Your veins are a little dry.” The doctor muttered, but slipped a needle attached to a tube through Chase’s skin anyway. 

“What are you doing?” Chase asked breathlessly as he watched his blood travel through the tube and into a clear bag. His head felt light and the room spun a little as he watched his life force being taken. 

The doctor sighed and wiggled the need a little. “I want to see how far gone you are. I’ll take blood now and I’ll take some more when you turn into the wolf.” 

“How do you know about that?” Chase whispered as his mind spun. 

Dr. Thomas chuckled. “Let’s say I have a personal interest in strange happenings. That, and I did some research. It’s only a matter of time before you hurt someone, Mr. Randall. Someday you’re going to kill someone. I’m going to prevent that.” 

“You – you don’t understand.” Chase tried to explain but the doctor frowned and disappeared from view. When he appeared again he held a thick cloth in his hand and forced it into Chase’s mouth. Chase moaned, but was too drugged to stop himself from being gagged. 

“I prefer to work in silence.” The doctor said and unhooked the tubing from Chase’s arm and lifted the red bag into view. Chase’s vision erupted with black fireworks as he fought to stay conscious. 

It was a losing fight.

__

Riley stood outside the museum and stared up at the night sky. The moon was almost in position. By now Chase was feeling ill and soon he would have pain coursing through his body as it twisted and switched shape. 

“He wasn’t supposed to be alone,” Riley whispered to the night and glared accusingly up at the moon. 

“You right.” Koda appeared at Riley’s side. “Chase not supposed to be alone. Chase not alone now. He has us in heart.” 

“But will that be enough?” Riley asked as he tore his gaze from the moon and looked at his friend. “What if he doesn’t survive this time?” 

“Chase survive,” Koda nodded firmly. “We save him. We just need to find Chase.” 

It was the finding part that seemed to be the hardest. 

__

Chase screamed and his body trembled with jolts of electricity. His fingers twitched and his body strained against the torture it was going through. He panted and groaned and screamed again until the sound no longer came from his throat. 

At some point Dr. Thomas had moved his drugged body from the medical table to the large cage in the corner of the room. Chase rolled and seized and lost the contents of his stomach for the second time. 

“Messy one.” He heard the doctor say as the man watched in wide-eye fascination. 

Chase had never wanted to hurt another human before. If he got the chance, Chase would rip the man’s throat out. 

__

Morning came and Riley hadn’t been able to sleep. He knew somewhere Chase was alone and in pain. They needed to come up with a clever way to find Chase. 

“What if,” Shelby started, but deflated quickly and shook her head. “Never mind.” 

“Dr. Thomas had no other properties in his name.” Riley said thoughtfully. He didn’t look any of his friends in the eye as he continued. “What if he wasn’t using his own property?” 

“What do you mean?” Kendall asked curiously. 

“What if he was using a family member’s property?” Riley’s eyes sparked as he looked at Kendall. “What if he inherited a property and never changed the name on the deed?” 

Kendall blinked, but turned to her computer and started to type. 

Any clue was better than no clue at all. 

__

Chase could barely move. His muscles were exhausted yet still twitched and contracted residually from the jolts of electricity. Everything hurt. 

“There you are.” Dr. Thomas said as he opened the cage door and stepped in. He was holding two syringes. 

A growl worked its way up Chase’s throat as he eyed his torturer. The man pressed the button on the remote and a spark of pain reignited in Chase’s body. It only lasted a moment, but Chase closed his eyes and gave up. 

The first syringe was used to draw blood. The second sent Chase into oblivion. 

__

“There are three possible locations.” Kendall said with a frown. “All of them belong to family members, but none of the family members are deceased. However, each of the family members also own a home outside of Amber Beach.” 

“So, what?” Tyler frowned. “They are vacation homes?” 

“Possibly.” Kendall nodded. “We need to be careful. I can’t tell when the homes have been used last and we don’t exactly want to break into a home where Chase isn’t being kept.” 

“What if we go as the power rangers?” Ivan suggested. “Surely the good people of Amber Beach wouldn’t fear us if we knocked on their doors!” 

Riley felt skeptical. “I don’t think anyone enjoys being ambushed, even if it is by the good guys.” He sighed. “We do have a better chance at not having to explain ourselves as the power rangers.” 

“I agree.” Kendall said and fiddled a little with her glasses. “We should probably check each location at the same time, just in case his family members are in on this – thing.” 

“Is splitting up wise?” Ivan asked. 

“It’s the only chance we have.” Tyler nodded. “Shelby and I will go to one location.” 

“Good, Ivan and Koda you two can take this location.” Kendall instructed and looked at Riley. “We’ll go to this one.” She pointed to the third location. “We’ll monitor the location first, then we’ll move in and see if we can find Dr. Thomas or Chase. Keep in mind he should be in wolf form by now.” 

Riley nodded and took in a deep breath. They had a plan, but that didn’t mean it was going to work out the way he wanted it too. He hoped that Chase was hidden in one of the locations, but it was a slim chance. 

Riley just hoped luck was on their side. 

__

Chase woke feeling less pain than he had before. He twitched a little and moved his ears to better hear his surroundings before he cracked his eyes open. He was laid out on his side. A bowl of water was in front of him, but Chase couldn’t bring himself to move just yet. 

“Not enough data.” The doctor muttered from his workbench. The man was huddled over several books sprawled out over the surface. “I should – yes, document.” 

If Chase could, he’d ask the man to shut his loony mouth. It was a struggle, but Chase managed to get his legs back under him, all four of them, and slowly stood with a long, sore stretch. 

The fog of drugs was still evident as the world swayed a little with each movement, but Chase felt much clearer than he had before. He eyed the water with suspicion and wondered if drinking it was worth the potential of being drugged again. He sniffed at it and noted that it didn’t smell any different than regular water. 

“Need more information.” The doctor said suddenly standing just outside the bars of Chase’s cage. Chase flinched back and away from the man as he noted the weapon in his hand. A gun. Chase flattened his ears against his head and growled despite the collar that still hung snug around his neck. 

The doctor had the nerve to smile. “Don’t worry, these bullets are not silver.” The man said and raised the gun and fired. 

__

Kendall and Riley’s heads both jerked at the sound of the gunshot. 

“He’s here.” Riley said and charged towards the door. He didn’t even take the moment to transform into a ranger. Kendall was hot on his heels as he bolted up the front porch to the cabin door. It was located out in the middle of the woods. A hunting lodge of all things. 

“That man has a gun.” Kendall whispered as Riley flung open the door. 

“I don’t care.” Riley shot back in a hot whisper as he stalked towards the stairway, his blaster in hand. 

The scene they came upon was about as bad as Riley had already pictured. Maybe even slightly better. Dr. Thomas had set the gun down on the table next to him. He looked surprised as Riley and Kendall ran down the steps. 

“Don’t move!” Riley demanded as he aimed his own gun at the mad man. 

“You don’t understand.” Dr. Thomas said with narrowed eyes. “This is for science!” 

“You’re crazy.” Kendall said as she ran to the cage and peered inside. Riley kept his eyes on the doctor who glanced towards the gun. 

“Don’t let it free!” The doctor snapped and shifted towards the gun on the table. Riley fired a warning shot and hit the gun. It clattered as it fell to the floor in a melted, twisted heap. 

“Don’t move.” Riley said lowly. He wanted to hurt the man who had hurt Chase, but he also knew there was a fine line he was walking. Up until this point they had only been fighting monsters and aliens. This doctor, although the lowest kind of evil, was human. Killing him would be murder, even if the kill could be justified by vengence. 

“Chase,” Kendall managed to get the cage open and rushed to the wolf’s side. Chase didn’t move, but Riley could see his furry chest heaving. “He’s been shot.” 

“How bad?” Riley asked, his voice cracked under the strain of emotions surging through him. He wanted to kill the man who had shot his friend. 

“Its through his back leg.” Kendall said and appeared at Riley’s side. “Give me the blaster, I need you to get Chase. I can’t carry him.” 

Riley thought that maybe Kendall had seen the anger in Riley’s eyes and decided to prevent Riley from making a terrible mistake. Either way, Riley was grateful not to have a weapon in his hand tempting him. 

“Alright,” Riley said and carefully handed Kendall the blaster. He forced himself to turn away from Dr. Thomas and focus on Chase. His wolf form was smaller than a full grown wolf. He was about the size of an adolescent. A small one at that.

The pool of dark blood gave Riley pause. No, he shook himself out of his stupor. He needed to hurry. They needed to get Chase somewhere safe. As gently as he could Riley gathered Chase’s wolf-body up the way he would pick up Rubric if he got his paws dirty and Riley wanted to avoid getting in trouble for letting Rubric run all over the house. 

Chase let out of soft whimper and it was then that Riley noticed the collar around his neck. Riley narrowed his eyes, but didn’t want to risk putting Chase back down to deal with the collar. 

“Let’s go.” Riley said to Kendall as he backed out of the cage. 

“He’s dangerous!” Dr. Thomas shouted at them. “Don’t you see? He’s not normal. This isn’t natural. We need to study him and use him to prevent this from happening in the future!” 

“If you come after him again, we won’t be so nice.” Kendall said harshly and motioned to the cage. “Get in.” 

Riley stared at the back of Kendall’s head and felt his heart beat a little faster. Dr. Thomas obeyed, still shouting about Chase being dangerous as Kendall used the blaster to melt the cage shut. Kendall turned and searched the room until she found Chase’s energem and pocketed it and grabbed Chase’s clothes. 

“We’ll send someone to find you.” Kendall told the caged doctor. “If our friend survives.” She added and followed Riley up the stairs. 

__

They got Chase into the museum van and Kendall climbed into the driver’s seat as Riley huddled in the back with Chase. “Keep pressure on the wound.” Kendall instructed. 

“Where are we going?” Riley asked numbly as he held a shirt against Chase’s wound. 

“I – I’m not sure.” She admitted. “Maybe a animal hospital.” She said and locked eyes with Riley in the rearview mirror. “We need someone to pull the bullet out.” 

“It’s still in there?” Riley asked. He hadn’t really looked at the wound other than to cover it with Chase’s grey hoodie. “That’s not good, is it?” 

“It could get infected.” Kendall sighed. “Although it will likely get infected regardless. It’s a bullet wound. GSW’s are not something to treat ourselves.” 

“We can’t go to the hospital.” Riley whispered. “What if a vet takes interest in Chase? What can we do?” 

“Find a vet that can remove the bullet and bring Chase home.” Kendall shook her head in despair. “We’ll figure things out later. He just needs to survive.” 

Riley nodded and took a moment to remove the shock collar. Burn marks singed Chase’s black fur and skin. The burns looked infected and Riley’s stomach rolled at the gory sight. 

“You’re going to be okay.” Riley whispered and ran his hand through Chase’s fur. “It’s going to be okay. We got you back. We’re going to fix you up.” Riley closed his eyes and cursed himself inwardly. They had promised Chase they were going to fix him before. 

How much longer would it take for Chase to lose faith in them?


	11. Chapter 11

The animal hospital was open twenty-four seven, however their after hours crew was a small group of interns. 

“We’ve never treated a wolf before.” The girl in charge said as she eyed Chase’s broken wolf-body. “Is it tame?” 

“Yes,” Riley said quickly. “He’s gentle, I promise. I’ve raised him since he was a puppy. He’s very tame and charming when he isn’t potentially dying.” 

The girl raised an eyebrow and moved to look into Chase’s eyes. Chase seemed to understand enough of what was happening and licked at the girl’s fingers and let out a series of high pitched whines that would shatter even the hardest heart. 

“Okay,” the girl, Brittney, said and patted Chase’s head gently. “We’re going to help you out. Rob, get the kit and Jenny we’re going to need an IV started and his fur clipped.” 

Two of the three watchers left the room in a hurry and Riley shared a look with Kendall. So far, so good. 

Riley insisted he stay in the room during the operation. He wanted to make sure that Chase knew he wasn’t alone, even though he was drugged up to his nose. Riley watched as they shaved the hair around Chase’s neck and revealed the oozing mess that was his skin. 

“Who did this?” Brittney accused. 

“My uncle.” Riley lied. “He got drunk and took Chase to a cabin. We found him with a shock collar around his neck and a bullet in his leg.” 

Brittney only relaxed slightly as she nodded and silently started to cut the hair around the bullet wound. “I think the bullet is lodged in the bone. We’ll see if the bone is fractured when we get in there, but for now I’m guessing the impact at least cracked the bone.”

Riley winced at that. He wondered if the transformation process would help or destroy Chase’s leg. Riley shook the thought away. One problem at a time. 

Brittney and her team worked as quickly and gently as possible. She focused on extracting the bullet while her team cleaned the burns on Chase’s neck and wrapped them. 

“He’s going to need antibiotic cream applied twice a day and I’m going to proscribe an oral antibiotic as well, just to be sure his wounds don’t become infected.” Brittney explained as she placed the smashed bullet into a metal kidney dish. “The bone looks pretty stable, but he’s going to need to stay off of it. We’ll wrap it up.” 

“Can we take him home?” Kendall asked. At some point she had returned. Riley glanced at her and she nodded slightly to let him know that she had contacted the other rangers. In all honesty Riley had forgotten about the others. 

“It would be better if he spent a few days here.” Brittney frowned. “And it would be best if my boss took a look at him. I’m still being trained and I might have missed something.” 

“We really would prefer to take him home,” Riley said slowly. “I promise if his condition seems to change we’ll bring him back.” 

Brittney didn’t look convinced and frowned. “I think I’d better take your information down.” 

“You have it.” Kendall said. “I filled out the paperwork while I was in the lobby. I gave it to Jenny.” She nodded to the other girl who nodded back. 

“She filled out the forms.” Jenny agreed. 

“Alright.” Brittney sighed and looked at Chase again. “I’d feel better if he was around people who could help him, but I can’t stop you from taking him home. He is your property.” 

Kendall nodded and looked at Riley who winced deeply at Brittney’s phrasing. Chase wasn’t their property, he was their friend. Not that they could tell her that. 

“I’ll pull the van up.” Kendall announced. 

“We’ll help you get him to your vehicle.” Brittney said and she gathered up her team. 

__

The ride back to the museum was silent. Riley huddled with Chase in the back, careful not to jostle his body in any unnecessary way. The wolf was still out cold from the drugs and Brittney said it wasn’t likely that he’d wake up until the following morning. 

__

When Chase woke it was to the feeling of warmth and comfort. He blinked owlishly and slowly lifted his head. He was laid out on a bed made of blankets, towels and pillows. It was an improvement from the last thing he remembered, which was being in a cage. Vaguely he remembered other things. Flashes of images that didn’t quite make sense. 

“Chase,” Riley’s voice called and Chase looked in the sounds direction. Riley looked like hell. His hair was sticking up in odd places and his clothes were rumbled, like they had been slept in. “Don’t move.” Riley warned and knelt by Chase’s side. “You were shot and your bone was damaged, but not quite broken. We’re worried if you put any weight on it the bone might snap.” 

Chase would have frowned at the information if he could have. He remembered Dr. Thomas and the gun, but everything after that was blurry.

The pain was dulled, but there. Chase looked at his bandaged leg and whined a little as the movement pulled at his neck. 

“You also have some burns on your neck,” Riley said and reached out and gently brushed his fingers through Chase’s fur. Chase, exhausted, placed his head back down on his front paws and looked up at Riley with pathetic eyes. Chase wished he could express his gratitude, but at the same time he was grateful he didn’t have to say anything at all. 

He didn’t want to talk about it. He wanted to forget. 

“You slept most of the day.” Riley said slowly. “Which is good. When Kendall gets back she’ll give you your next antibiotic and something for the pain. We’re going to try and drug you up tomorrow and see if that will help with the transition. Is that okay?” 

No, Chase thought, but not being drugged up didn’t seem like the best plan either. He raised his head and dropped it in a faux nod. Riley nodded and continued to run his fingers through Chase’s fur. It felt good, even if the sensation was dulled by the drugs. 

“It’s going to work out.” Riley said and Chase looked away and turned slightly so he could see his energem on the charger. He was glad they had recovered it from Dr. Thomas. The nut job. Chase shivered a little and tried to remember what happened to the doctor. It was unlikely that his friends killed the man. Although monstrous, Dr. Thomas was still undeniably human. 

They couldn’t kill him. 

They also couldn’t really get the police involved. Not without risking more people trying to hunt Chase down for being a little different. Well, a lot different. Unnatural. Not totally human. Chase shivered again. 

Riley’s fingers stumbled a little and his eyes grew worried. “Are you cold?” He asked worriedly and pressed his hand a little firmer against Chase’s forehead and then ran his fingers down Chase’s snout until they rested on his nose. “You don’t seem to have a fever, that’s good.” Riley’s face wasn’t cured of the worried frown, but his shoulders relaxed a little. The green ranger moved and picked up a blanket and settled it over Chase’s wolf-body. “Maybe that’ll help.” 

Doubtful, Chase thought, but licked at Riley’s fingers in gratitude despite his dark feelings. The little action won back Riley’s smile. It almost made Chase feel better. 

Almost. 

The pull of exhaustion called again and this time, Chase allowed himself to be dragged under. 

__

The transformation was still painful, but the drugs helped Chase forget to care. Hours after he lay curled on the pillows and blankets on the floor Chase couldn’t will himself to move his human legs or arms. Riley and Koda were still with him. Riley looked like the walking dead. Too tired to stay awake, but also too stubborn to leave. 

“Are you comfortable?” Riley asked, not for the first time. “We can help you to the medical table, if you think that might be better.” 

Chase blinked his eyes, but couldn’t bring himself to answer. Very carefully he gave the very slightest shake of his head. 

Over his prone body Koda and Riley shared a worried look. Chase didn’t like that he was worrying his friends, but he also didn’t have enough energy to stop it from happening. A part of him was too numb to care. He was trying very hard not to think about his time in captivity. Of being strapped down. Of being touched and drained of his blood. 

Nausea hit him so quickly he barely had time to turn his head before the bile burned up his throat. 

There wasn’t much in his stomach, which was good, but it also didn’t stop his body from heaving dryly. 

“You’re okay,” Riley chanted and Koda said something along the same lines. 

Chase closed his eyes and tried to block out the fact that Riley had to wipe up the vomit that had gotten on his face. It felt humiliating and frustrating and there was nothing Chase could do about it. He buried his face in the pillows and blankets again and tried to hide from the world around him. 

__

After Chase threw up and dry heaved Riley and Koda backed off a bit. Chase looked shell-shocked and hadn’t responded verbally to anyone since he had become human again. The only thing he wore was his energem. His lower half was wrapped in a blanket, but besides that and the bandages Kendall and Riley had placed around his upper thigh and neck Chase was naked. 

“What can we do?” Koda asked as he nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot. 

Riley shook his head a little and glanced at Chase with open concern. He didn’t like that Chase was so quiet. “Was he this quiet the first time you watched him turn?” Riley whispered. 

Koda’s face scrunched up in thought. “Yes.” Koda nodded. “But he in hospital.” 

So it was different, Riley nodded and frowned. “He shouldn’t still be sick, should he?” Riley asked, but Koda shrugged. They weren’t playing off a lot of information, unfortunately. 

“What can we do?” Koda asked again. 

“There’s nothing we can do.” Riley said, defeated. “We just have to wait and see when he’s ready to move or talk to us. We shouldn’t force it, not after what happened.” 

Koda nodded reluctantly and winced. “I want to fix it.” He told Riley sincerely. 

“Me too.” Riley agreed as they stood back and watched Chase, who seemed to have fallen asleep. Riley hoped Chase was asleep. Chase could use all the rest he could get. 

__

Chase still wasn’t talking and Riley was worried. He wasn’t the only one. Kendall had him sitting up on the exam table and was, well, examining his wounds. 

“How is he?” Riley asked as he hovered over her shoulder. 

Kendall stiffened a little and turned back to Riley with a look that told him she wasn’t happy with his constant nagging. “He’s healing.” She said and straightened. “Shouldn’t you be up in the café with the others?” 

“I switched my shifts with one of the other workers.” Riley explained and looked at Chase who quickly dropped his gaze so that their eyes wouldn’t meet. Riley wasn’t sure what was going on with Chase, but he intended to find out and fix it. “I thought I could help.” 

With a sigh Kendall shook her head. “Chase,” she looked at Chase who avoided her eye line like it was a game he intended to win. “Your wounds are healing nicely, but I still want you to keep pressure off your leg.” 

Chase nodded, the only real signal that let them know that he understood them just fine. 

Riley caught the concerned look Kendall had when she looked back at Riley with a shrug. She had no idea how to help Chase either. 

“I bet it’s pretty cold in the lab at night.” Riley said. He knew exactly how cold the lab got since he had spent the last few nights there with Chase. “I think that my apartment would be way more comfortable.” 

Chase looked up at that and narrowed his eyes in Riley’s general direction. 

Kendall looked at Riley as well, her eyes suddenly filled with hope. 

Riley took it as a sign to continue. “I have a spare room, if you’re interested in getting out of here.” 

Chase’s face filtered through several emotions, but ended on acceptance. There was a nod and Riley’s face split into a big grin. “Great!”

“I’ll get you the crutches,” Kendall said and gave Chase’s knee a gentle pat. “I still want you to stay off that leg and rest as much as you can manage.” She looked at Riley and offered a grateful look. Riley understood. This was the first time since the ‘incident’ that Chase appeared to want something. It was a good sign. 

Riley just hoped he didn’t screw everything up.


	12. Chapter 12

“We could order a pizza?” Riley offered as Chase hobbled into Riley’s apartment. It hadn’t escaped Chase’s attention that Riley was feeling awkward. Chase couldn’t exactly blame him. It wasn’t Riley’s fault and Chase knew he should be putting more effort in convincing Riley of that. 

“Sure.” Chase muttered, his voice rough from disuse. The one word response caused a brilliant smile that Chase wasn’t prepared for. It was infectious and Chase couldn’t help the small smile that played on his own lips in response. 

With Riley things were easy. Chase was growing tired of all the attention in the lab. Shelby and Kendall proved to be smothering mother hens. Tyler, Ivan and Koda were no better. Riley though, Riley was calm and didn’t push Chase to do things before he was ready. 

Chase liked Riley. A lot. More than he even wanted to think about so soon after a traumatizing event. 

“So, pineapple and black olives?” Riley asked as he grabbed his cell phone. Chase frowned and wondered when Riley had learned his favorite topping combo. None of the other rangers liked pineapple, so Chase had stopped asking shortly after Tyler, Shelby and Riley joined the team. 

“You don’t have to.” Chase said with a wince. There was being nice and then there was being excessive. 

Riley grinned. “I actually have never had pineapple on pizza before.” He admitted. “It sounded strange when you first suggested it, but now I’m kind of interested to see how it tastes.” 

Chase frowned a little, but shrugged a shoulder. “I’m down if you are.” He said to avoid a pointless argument. Riley grinned and placed the order. “Should be done in about twenty minutes.” He said and sat down next to Chase. “So, want to watch a movie?” 

A movie. Chase smirked sadly. It sounded so simple. “Sure.” He said and watched Riley stand and shuffle through is movie selection. “You pick.” Riley said and laid the movies out in front of Chase. 

Although he wasn’t really up for making any decisions, Chase pointed to one anyway. “I heard this one was good.” He said. 

“Star Wars?” Riley frowned. “Wait, you’ve never seen it?” 

Chase was tempted to stop talking again. He rubbed at his throat and debated inwardly about how much he wanted to tell Riley. Above all, he didn’t want pity. His life had been different and at times difficult, but it still was his life, his story and he couldn’t change the past. He didn’t regret how he lived through the hard times and he didn’t want to second guess his choices, or his parents choices now that it was all over. 

“It’s a great movie.” Riley smiled suddenly and opened the DVD case and popped it into the player. “One of my favorites, actually. The three originals are classics.” 

With a small smile Chase took the ‘out’ that Riley provided and nodded. “I like space movies.” He said, although he’d only seen a few. Movie watching wasn’t exactly an easy task when he had been stuck as a wolf. Chase never had money as a human and sneaking into theaters wasn’t worth the trouble. 

There were a few outdoor theaters that Chase hung around during the summer. The view from the woods was terrible, but his wolf vision and hearing was superior to his human form. It worked well enough. 

Those memories were actually pretty good. Sure he had been lonely, but he had been a clever wolf. 

The movie started and Riley and Chase sat on the couch together, their legs brushed together and for a moment Chase felt content. It was good, to be close to Riley. To share his warmth and enjoy his company. It helped distract Chase from his sorry reality. If Chase could he’d stay in the moment with Riley on the couch for the rest of his existence. 

It was so much harder to be strong alone. Chase had been so used to waking up alone and living life alone. 

Riley had no idea what he or the others were doing to Chase. They had become his home and Chase was so very afraid that one day it would all be ripped away from him again. 

Nothing last forever, Chase tried to remind himself as his eyes focused on the screen. 

The sound of a knock on the door sent a jolt of pure fear through Chase. He stood, forgetting momentarily about his leg until it crumbled under the sudden weight. Chase cried out as his body hit the unforgiving ground. Riley was by his side, eyes wide with his own fear. 

“Chase,” Riley breathed and gripped Chase’s shaking shoulders. “It’s just the pizza.” He promised. Chase eyed the door and shook his head a little. What if it wasn’t the pizza guy? What if it was the psycho doctor? 

Reason told Chase that it was unlikely the doctor knew where Riley lived, but the fear screamed much louder. 

“It’s okay.” Riley winced and stood. He pressed the pause button on the remote and moved to the door. Chase opened his mouth to warn Riley and make him stop. They shouldn’t be opening the door, they should be barricading it!

The door opened and the pizza guy, a beanstalk teenager with bad acne, surveyed the scene with disinterest. “Your order.” The kid said and handed Riley the box when Riley handed over the money. 

“The gratuity is there.” Riley said and shut the door in the kids face. He set the box down and returned to Chase’s side. “See? No crazy doctors.” 

Devastated Chase wished he could disappear. He felt embarrassed, among other negative emotions that seemed to overwhelm him. “I’m sorry.” Chase whispered, unable to meet Riley’s eye line. 

“It’s fine.” Riley said smoothly. “I would be a little nervous too if I were in your situation. Chase, you don’t have to worry, we’re going to protect you.” 

“How?” Chase asked. “I’m a power ranger. I shouldn’t have been caught so easily. People keep promising that things are going to be okay, but every time I change things seem to get worse.” 

Riley’s expression fell and Chase immediately regretted saying anything. He shouldn’t complain and he knew it. “I’m sorry, don’t get me wrong, life is better. I have you guys and you guys are great, but I feel like I’m holding the team back. I’m the weak link.” 

“No,” Riley frowned. “Chase, you are strong and brave. You keep the team grounded. Don’t sell yourself short. We need you and honestly we feel like we’re the ones who are failing you. We want to fix this, but we just don’t know how. Not yet. Give us another chance, we want to protect you because we love you.” 

Chase flinched at that word. Love. He looked at Riley with a sliver of hope. 

“I love you.” Riley said breathlessly. “I – I realized it after Cavity. It was a crush, but after you saved me from those wolves, Chase, I was so worried I would never get the chance to tell you.” 

Chase couldn’t help but stare at Riley. He almost didn’t believe Riley could love him, but Chase thought with his heart more than his head. He took a in a deep breath and looked into Riley’s eyes. There was only truth, no deception staring back at him. A warm feeling spread through Chase’s chest as he stared back into Riley’s eyes. 

He was loved. 

More than that, Chase felt the same. Slowly Chase leaned forward and kissed Riley softly. 

“I love you too,” Chase told Riley when their lips broke apart. 

Riley smiled and it was infectious. “Now that that’s settled we should probably eat before the pizza gets cold.” 

“Cold pizza is better anyway.” Chase smirked, but allowed Riley to help him up off the ground. 

__

That night Chase woke up from a nightmare and Riley rushed into the room, baseball bat in hand. They stared at one another until Chase finally broke down and buried his sweat soaked face into his hands. 

The bed dipped a little when Riley moved to sit next to Chase. For once Riley didn’t seem to know what to do, but eventually Chase felt Riley’s arms wrap around his shoulders protectively. Chase melted into the contact. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Riley whispered after a while. They were both laying in the bed by then. Riley still had his arms around Chase and held him gently to his chest. Chase listened to the steady beat of Riley’s heart and found it incredibly comforting. 

“He said he wanted to cure me,” Chase spoke quietly. “He said he was going to cure me, or kill me. I couldn’t do anything.” 

“He’s never going to hurt you again.” Riley vowed. 

“How can you be so sure?” Chase asked and looked up just in time to catch Riley’s devastated expression. “I’m sorry.” Chase deflated and rested his head back againt Riley’s chest. “This isn’t your fault. I shouldn’t have said that.” 

“I’m sure because I’m going to protect you better.” Riley said after a few moments ticked by. “The others are going to as well. We aren’t going to let anyone hurt you again because of this.” 

“There’s no way to fix it.” Chase shook his head. “If Moana knew of a way it could be fixed she would have done it already. I should feel lucky, I get to be human for more than four days at a time. I get to talk to you. To lay here with you like this and not be stuck in a wolf’s body. I don’t have any regrets of how I lived my life before now, but this is way better. I can deal with the pain, if I need to, but it’s going to take a while to get used to the fact that there are people out there that will try and kill me because I am cursed.” 

“I want to protect you.” Riley whispered. 

“I know.” Chase nodded and sighed slowly. “But if you can’t, it’s alright.” Chase told Riley and turned to look into his boyfriend’s eyes. “You aren’t the one to blame for any of this. You didn’t curse me and you make my life so much better. Please don’t blame yourself for anything that happens. Or anything that has already happened. Something’s can’t be changed.” 

Riley looked away, but nodded in acceptance. 

Chase knew that Riley and his other friends wanted to protect him, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that they couldn’t protect him from everything. The wolf was apart of Chase, Chase wasn’t even sure if he wanted the wolf to be gone entirely, but it was hard to explain. 

“Stay with me?” Chase whispered as he felt the tug of sleep. He was still healing and the drugs he took made him sleepy. 

“Forever.” Riley promised as Chase drifted back to sleep. 

The nightmares were afraid of Riley. 

Chase slept peacefully for the rest of the night.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much needed fluff.

Riley doesn’t say a word when Chase effectively moves into his apartment. If anything Riley feels relieved that Chase doesn’t have to go back to his old apartment again. There were too many bad memories there. Chase deserved to be somewhere he could feel safe. 

The insane doctor was still out there in the world. Kendall reluctantly called someone to set the doctor free. She had hoped that the evidence at Dr. Thomas’s home would have been enough to jumpstart an investigation, but there had been nothing in the news about the man. 

Chase seemed better. The nightmares stayed away as long as Riley was close by. 

If they slept together it was platonic at best. They kissed some, but never took it further. Chase seemed to want to take things slow and Riley was all for it. He loved Chase, but Riley was a little old fashion and Chase, it seemed, was a little scared. 

Taking things slow didn’t cause their relationship to suffer. If anything it enhanced it. They were close and they could rely on each other in ways neither of them had ever dreamed of before. 

It was nice, but fragile and neither of them wanted to move to quickly and risk destroying it. 

Chase had recovered quickly from the gunshot wound in his thigh. Kendall said that his energem had helped speed things along. Riley wasn’t so certain Chase’s wolf-side hadn’t helped too. There was no way of knowing, however, and Riley kept his thoughts to himself. He knew that Chase didn’t like to talk about his wolf-side. At least not since the latest incident. 

“We should do something fun.” Shelby announced as she fanned herself with a menu. The air-conditioner in the museum had broken and the café and museum had shut down early. 

“It’s too hot to do anything,” Tyler complained. His face was pushed right up next to a table fan on the counter. The rapidly turning blades distorted his voice. Chase chuckled a little as he ran a melting ice cube over his skin. Riley found it incredibly hot. 

“Then we shall have to cool off.” Ivan announced. 

“Lake trip!” Shelby cheered and grabbed ahold of Tyler’s arm to pull him away from the fan. He looked torn between disappointment at being pulled away from the constant breeze and overly excited at Shelby’s sudden attention. It was amusing to watch. 

“Sounds good.” Riley said and smiled at Chase who grinned back in return. 

The full moon was a ways off. They didn’t have to worry about Chase ‘wolfing’ out. It sounded good to relax for a bit. It definitely sounded good to get out of the heat. 

“Yeah.” Chase agreed and bumped his shoulder lightly against Riley’s as they follow the group out. 

They don’t split up to grab supplies, instead they stop at a store along the way and buy what they need. Chase admitted to Riley as they looked through the swimsuits that he was a self-taught swimmer and that he hadn’t bothered to buy swimwear. 

“You seem like the surfing type.” Riley pointed out curiously. 

Chase laughed. “Yeah, you lay on the board to swim out across the break and no one pays attention to a downed surfer when they are making their way back to shore.” He shrugged. “Honestly I’ve only surfed a few times and I wasn’t a fan of almost drowning. I am pretty awesome at a lot of things, swimming unfortunately is not one of them.” 

Riley could tell there was some embarrassment under the smiles and good nature. “Well, maybe I’ll give you a private lesson.” He offered with a sly smile. 

“Sounds like fun.” Chase smiled. 

__

The lake was beautiful. Secluded and gloriously cool despite the impressive heat wave they were facing. Chase felt himself relax as he enjoyed the companionship of his friends. 

For a while Chase had wondered if he’d ever feel happy again, but Riley pulled him through. Occasionally there were still bad dreams or flashes of memories, but it was easier to push them away. 

“Hey, ready for that lesson?” Riley asked as he sat on the towel next to Chase. Shelby and Tyler had started a rather impressive ‘splash’ war and Koda and Ivan were currently winning. 

“Only if we go somewhere else.” Chase laughed. “I can’t say I’m a fan of water up my nose.” 

Riley’s nose wrinkled in sympathy. “I think that can be arranged.” He smiled and helped Chase up. “Let’s go for a walk.” He offered his hand and Chase threaded his fingers in between Riley’s. 

It felt good to be close to Riley. Normal. Chase knew he wasn’t normal, but he also knew that Riley wasn’t normal either. It was complex, but comforting at the same time. 

“It really doesn’t worry you, does it?” Chase asked as they walked along the lake’s shoreline. 

“What?” Riley asked curiously. 

“The wolf.” Chase said carefully. “That I’m not quite human.” 

“You are.” Riley frowned. “You are human. You just have, uh, the wolf too.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me. The wolf, you – you saved me, Chase. I don’t think any differently of you because there is no need to. You are still you. Even with four paws, a set of ears and a tail.” 

“Yeah,” Chase muttered lightly. “I am still me. I don’t think I know how much I depend on the wolf’s instincts. My eyesight is pretty awesome in the dark and when the full moon is near I can hear and smell things that most people would miss. I’m not sure what it would feel like if it wasn’t part of me anymore.” 

Riley considered Chase’s words before he gave Chase’s hand a light squeeze. “You don’t have to get rid of the wolf if you don’t want to. Maybe we can just figure out how to ease the transformation?” 

“That would be nice.” Chase admitted. “I don’t see how, though.” Chase turned and glanced back at their group of friends. They were still laughing and having fun. Chase was so happy that he was apart of such an amazing team. He was so grateful that they had accepted him despite the animal within. 

“What’s that?” Riley asked, his fingers trailing across the exposed skin of Chase’s right shoulder blade. 

“What’s what?” Chase asked and tried to crane his neck back to see what Riley was talking about. He couldn’t see from his angle, so he looked at Riley for an explanation. 

“It looks like a scar, but,” Riley frowned and pulled out his phone and took a picture. “It also looks like a wolf howling in front of a full moon.” He showed the image to Chase who frowned. He’d never noticed it before. It was small, about the size of a quarter. The image was too obvious to be a ‘happy’ mistake or a weirdly ironic birthmark. 

“I never noticed it before.” Chase said. “It’s at an awkward spot and contrary to popular believe, I don’t spend more time in front of mirrors than anyone else.” 

Riley frowned and looked at the little scar on Chase’s back. “Maybe it’s where the curse originated from.” 

“I don’t remember getting hurt there at all.” Chase said after a moment of contemplation. Rarely did he dwell on his life before the wolf. The memories were painfully normal and didn’t feel real half of the time. Chase didn’t like to think about everything he had lost. 

“It can’t be a coincidence.” Riley pointed out. “Maybe we can research it.” He brightened. 

Chase smiled and nodded. “The internet has come a long way.” He agreed. “Let’s focus on having fun for now.” 

Riley nodded and slipped his phone back into his pocket as they continued along the shoreline. They found a nice little cove far away from their friends and their on-going ‘splash’ war. Chase followed Riley’s lead and set down his towel and bag on the large rocks stacked near the sand ringing around the water’s edge. 

He caught Riley has he stared at the scar again. “What’s going on in that head of yours?” Chase asked lightly as he turned to face Riley directly. 

“It just seems odd, you know?” Riley shrugged. “That after all this time you hadn’t noticed it.” 

“It’s in a weird spot.” Chase pointed out. The scar didn’t really bother him. Chase had a lot of scars. His most resent one being from a bullet. 

Riley nodded his acceptance and sighed. “I know, but it’s just got me curious, that’s all. Ignore me. Let’s get in the water.” 

Chase grinned at that and suddenly picked up Riley and flung him into the water before jumping in after. The water was cool, but not unbearable as they resurfaced. 

“Mean.” Riley said with more dignity than Chase expected. Chase threw his head back and laughed. Riley splashed him playfully, but shook his head. “No, we’re not going to stoop to Shelby and Tyler’s level. I’m teaching you how to swim.” 

“All right, all-knowing one,” Chase said and walked a little further out, so his neck was just above the water. “Do your worse.” 

“Show me what you’ve got.” Riley countered as he moved to tread water like a pro. Chase rolled his eyes and flushed a bit as he did his best ‘doggy paddle’ impression. He stopped when he accidently splashed Riley in the face and his boyfriend started to laugh. 

“Hey,” Chase frowned. “I learned how to swim as a wolf, okay, this is as good as it gets.” 

“Psh,” Riley smirked. “Not when I’m done with you.” He promised and began the lesson. 

By the end Chase was exhausted, but could swim without looking like he was a drowning dog. 

It was a win.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some bits of conversation and happenings in this chapter are directly pulled from the show. I changed key points to the episodes in order to fit into my AU. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Chase had been thrilled to go home to New Zealand, even if it was just for a little while. He loved sharing his world with Riley, even if they weren’t able to go visit Chloe or his mom. For the first time in a long time Chase actually talked to his mother on the phone. Chloe had insisted and it wasn’t as awkward as Chase remembered it to be. His mother even sounded happy to talk with him. 

“I wish we were in the southern islands so we could visit your family.” Riley said when the conversation ended. 

“Yeah,” Chase nodded and looked down at his cell phone. “Luckily I’m going home for Christmas.” He told Riley who nodded. 

“Oh yeah?” Riley’s eyes light up with surprise. Whoops, Chase thinks. Maybe that was something he should have mentioned to Riley sooner. 

“Yeah,” Chase started to explain, but Shelby started to squeal about seeing a dolphin and Ivan’s curious, ‘what is a dolphin?’ Was quickly followed by Koda trying to jump off the boat to swim with the mystical sea creature. 

Needless to say the rest of the ferry ride was a touch distracting. 

__

It isn’t until later when Chase’s guilt had time to rear it’s nasty head. “I probably should have told you about the plane ticket.” Chase said as he tapped the tip of his shoe against the ground. They’re on the balcony of their hotel room that over looked the city. 

“It’s really not a problem.” Riley said quickly. “I’m happy you’re going to get to visit your family.” 

“My sister gave it to me when she came to preform at the museum.” Chase continued to explain needlessly. “I guess I forgot to mention it to you guys and then I sort of forgot it was a big deal. I’m used to keeping secrets, even if I don’t mean to. There weren’t a whole lot of people to talk to before you guys came into my life.” 

Riley nodded slowly. “I understand, Chase. You really don’t have to explain things to me. I’m happy for you. I’m probably going to go home for Christmas too. I was going to invite you, but I think it’s wonderful you’re going to get to spend time with your sister. I know how much she means to you.” 

Chase grinned a little at that. His little sister was everything to him. “My mom sounds like she might be more accepting now.” Chase offered carefully. “I think she paid for the plane ticket.” 

“Any word from your dad?” Riley asked after a careful pause. 

The good mood deflated a little and Chase shook his head. “No, but I don’t expect to ever see him again.” He dropped his shoulder a little and turned back to the city skyline, all lit up and beautiful. “My father left my mom and, well, the guilt was always there, you know? He wanted to love me, but something inside of his heart wouldn’t let him.” Chase shrugged and looked back at Riley. “I don’t really want to talk about it anymore.” 

“Okay, Chase.” Riley said and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. “We don’t have to talk about it.” 

Chase nodded and buried his face in Riley’s shoulder. For the moment he just wanted to hide away with Riley and forget about the on-going drama that was his life. 

Now that they had the purple energem they needed to focus on their next task and find a new person for it to bond to. 

__

They flew back to Amber Beach and Kendall immediately started to plan how they were going to get themselves a new purple ranger. 

“Do you really think this is going to work?” Chase asked skeptically as they set up the ‘incident.’ Chase didn’t exactly like the idea of putting Kendall in danger, fake or real. 

“Well,” Kendall said as she surveyed the ‘testing’ zone. “It’s better than waiting around for a hero to randomly show up. That could take decades. If we cause an accident and force the situation it will be a lot faster. I for one would like to find the purple ranger within my life time.” Kendall grinned. “You guys might not age thanks to your bonds, but I will.” 

They ran the ‘test’ all day and none of the people who ‘rescued’ Kendall bonded with the purple energem. 

“An un-bonded energem is dangerous.” Kendall had said. 

Chase agreed as he helped the others tear down the ‘testing’ zone. At least Kendall was safe again. Until tomorrow when they started things back up, Chase sighed and joined the others as they walked down the sidewalk to the square to grab something to eat. 

“What do you desire?” A woman at one of the carts asked as they passed by. “Money? Love? Find that special someone with my wish cards.” She grinned at them. 

Chase eyed her and frowned at the thought of magic of any kind. Logically the woman was a fake selling optimism and fun while wasting paper. Still, witches real or fake made Chase’s skin crawl. 

“Wishing cards,” Riley grinned and shook his head. “No thanks, but we’re not superstitious. Come on guys.” Riley motioned for them to continue on, but Koda grabbed Riley’s shoulder to stop him. 

“I am super squish-y-ness.” Koda announced with a big goofy smile as he wrote something down on one of the cards. 

Chase smiled a little as he looked over Koda’s shoulder and watched the man write. He was somewhat impressed with Koda’s handwriting. The caveman was getting better every day. 

“What about you?” The woman asked Chase and he quickly lost his smile and backed away. 

“Nah, I’m good.” He said and looked at Riley nervously. Magic wasn’t something he wanted to play with, not unless it could cure him from the pain he was likely going to face during the next full moon. 

It was less than a week away. 

“Does such sorcery actually work?” Ivan asked curiously as he watched Koda slip the paper into the ornate box. 

“Frankly?” Kendall smiled and waved her hand a little. “No.” 

“Ms. Morgan’s right,” Riley told Koda, “Come on, wishes don’t magically come true.” 

Tyler and Shelby walked up and joined the group. 

“Hey guys,” Tyler grinned. “What’s going on?” 

“Koda is writing down his wish thinking that it’s actually going to come true.” Riley laughed a little. Chase frowned at him. He didn’t think laughing at Koda was very nice, but kept his thoughts to himself. Riley had very strong opinions about such things. 

“Yeah,” Shelby snickered with an equally amount of disbelief. “Like that’s going to happen.” She rolled her eyes and handed Koda a large brown bag, “Koda, I got you the Tropical Burger.” 

Koda’s eyes went huge and he gasped loudly and pointed back at the wishing booth. “That my wish!” He said and snatched the bag happily. 

Chase perked up at the proof and frowned. 

“No,” Riley shook his head and patted Chase on the shoulder. “No, that’s not magic.” He looked at Koda and pointed very directly at the caveman with both hands. “You always wish for a burger.” He pointed out. 

Chase shared a look with Ivan, Tyler and Shelby and they all rushed to the booth, much to Riley’s disgruntled expression and Kendall’s eye roll. 

“Come on, Riles.” Chase said over his shoulder. “It’s just a little harmless fun.” Although Chase didn’t like to play with magic, obviously, the idea of his one wish coming true was too great to pass up. 

“May all your wishes come true,” The woman behind the booth said with a smile. 

“Let’s hope so.” Tyler grinned and pushed his wish card into the box. 

Chase looked at his hands and frowned. He didn’t feel all that different. Riley eyed him suspiciously and Chase grinned back and shoved his hands into his pockets. 

“What did you wish for?” Riley asked as they continued to the restaurant. 

“Let’s just see if it works,” Chase told his boyfriend. “I don’t want to jinx it.” 

Riley sighed, but didn’t immediately stomp on Chase’s belief that the magic might help him. Riley could be gentle when he wanted to be. Plus he was outnumbered. 

“It doesn’t hurt to dream.” Shelby said and shot Tyler a longing look when the red ranger wasn’t looking. Chase could guess what she had wished for. It would be interesting to see how it all worked out. 

__

Chase was working the grill when Tyler asked about the picnic. He shook his head with a wink and a smile, “Nah, I should stay for my shift. You kids go have fun, though.” 

Riley was off helping Kendall and Ivan was helping Koda. Usually Chase had at least one of his friends to keep him company, but he was experienced in being alone. With a sigh he looked at the grill and contemplated checking to see if his wish came true. 

No, he wouldn’t actively try and harm himself to test it out.

His shift went slow and he was helping close up when Kendall walked in. Carefully Chase walked over to Kendall and glanced at her data pad. “Hey Kendall, any luck on the search?” He asked slyly and sat in the chair across from her. 

“No, finding a hero is harder than I thought.” Kendall said with a sigh. 

“It’ll work out.” Chase offered and grinned when Kendall gave him the ‘look’ that sent most people cowering. “Someday.” Chase laughed. “Some things can’t be forced.” 

“Where is everyone, anyway?” Kendall asked as she glanced around. 

“Koda was feeling sick,” Chase frowned, “Ivan was with him. Tyler and Shelby went on a picnic – ”

“Tyler and Shelby are alone?” Kendall asked with a surprisingly bright expression. “Like a date?” 

Chase laughed. “Yeah, exactly like a date.” He agreed and got up to sweep the floor some more. 

“I bet that was Shelby’s wish.” Kendall sand and shook her head a little. Her face went a little serious as she thought about the whole situation. “And Koda got his burger.” She added and glanced at Chase. “What was your wish?” 

With a little wince Chase shook his head. “Mine was kind of pathetic.” He admitted. “I wished that I couldn’t feel pain, I guess I was hoping that when the full moon came around – well,” He shrugged. Beside him he watched as Amber, one of the other café workers started to climb up a later to do some dusting.

“Chase,” Kendall said with a sigh of regret. Chase looked at her and tried to gather some sort of speech he could give to relieve some of the guilt he had inadvertently caused. Kendall, like Riley, felt that Chase’s ‘condition’ was somehow their responsibility to fix. 

Chase was pretty certain at this point there was no fixing anything. 

Suddenly Amber fell and landed on top of Chase. She groaned a little and Chase sat up like nothing happened. 

“Chase, Amber!” Kendall gasped. Amber rolled off of Chase and looked at him with wide eyes. 

“I’m so sorry!” Amber said as Chase moved to stand up. 

“Actually, I’m fine.” Chase said with a light frown. “I didn’t feel a thing.” He said in awe. 

Kendall stood abruptly and started to leave the café as Amber went to scrub the grill. “Kendall?” Chase called after her. “Where are you going?” 

Kendall turned back and smiled at Chase. “I know it sounds crazy,” she announced. “But I’m going to wish for a purple ranger.” 

Chase smiled and shook his head as he watched Kendall leave. He hoped it worked out for her. 

__

Chase went down to the lab after the café was closed up for the night. Koda looked miserable and Riley looked pensive. 

“What’s going on guys?” Chase asked as Koda stood up abruptly and promptly threw up all over the front of Chase’s shirt. “Ugh, Koda, you still aren’t feeling okay?” Chase asked with a wrinkled up nose. He was glad that it wasn’t too close to the full moon or he probably would hurl in sympathy from the smell alone. 

Riley winced in sympathy. “Uh, Koda, sit down. Chase, let’s get your shirt off.” He directed and hovered while Chase carefully removed his shirt and tried very hard not to touch the vomit stains. 

“What happen?” Koda asked with alarm and Chase heard Riley gasp as the shirt was pulled free from his head and dropped onto the ground. 

“What do you mean?” Chase asked as he saw both of their gazes were fixed on his chest. He looked down and blinked in surprise. He was bruised. Dark, nearly black on the side he had been struck on when Amber had fallen. “I – I didn’t feel a thing.” He whispered as he stared at the damage. 

Riley moved closer to Chase and poked at the damage. “Chase, this isn’t okay.” 

“I wished that I wouldn’t feel pain.” Chase said quietly and looked at Riley with stricken eyes. “I didn’t – I meant during the full moon, when I changed forms.” He tried to explain. 

“This could be bad.” Riley said worriedly. “If you can’t feel if your hurt you could literally be walking wounded until you drop dead.” 

Chase’s eyes went wide and he allowed himself to be guided to the nearest chair. 

Ivan slid into the lab and groaned a little. 

Riley blinked up from Chase and frowned at the knight. “What happened to you?” 

“I think I messed up my back rescuing a young lady in distress.” Ivan complained and shifted awkwardly. 

Tyler and Shelby entered the scene moments later. 

“I’m glad you guys are here.” Riley announced as he eyed his injured and sick friends. “We really need to talk about – ”

“Our wishes?” Shelby guessed. 

Chase watched Riley stare back at her. “How’d you know?” He asked. 

“They both came true before they went bad.” Tyler announced. 

“Wait, that’s what happened to everybody who made a wish.” Riley frowned and looked at Chase who suddenly remembered Kendall. 

“Oh no.” Chase whispered and gathered everyone’s full attention. “Kendall, she’s about to make a wish to find a purple ranger!” He announced and moved to stand. 

Riley stopped him. “I’m not so sure you should come. You could be injured more than we realize and not know it.” 

“I can’t just sit back and do nothing.” Chase frowned back at Riley. “We need to find what did this and stop it and more importantly, we need to find Kendall.” 

“Okay,” Riley agreed reluctantly and the group of rangers ran from the lab. They already knew where Kendall was heading, Chase just hoped they weren’t too late. Chase grabbed a museum shirt on the way out and slipped it on as they headed towards the square. 

“Ms. Morgan!” Shelby shouted as she spotted Kendall over by the wishing cart. Chase’s heart pounded in his chest as he screamed Kendall’s name and told her to stop, but she didn’t seem to hear them as she slipped the card in and started to walk towards them. 

“No!” Chase shouted as Kendall stepped out into the street without looking. He’d seen the car careening towards her and knew he was too far away to do anything about it. He stood frozen in fear as a man appeared and grabbed Kendall out of the way. 

“Who’s that?” Koda asked as the group watched from across the street. 

“No one good.” Shelby said they ran to gather around Kendall on the other side of the street. “Are you okay Ms. Morgan?” Shelby asked as they reached her. 

Kendall held up her hand, she seemed entranced as she stared at her rescuer. “Fine,” she said and stepped up to the stranger. “This may sound strange, but there’s something I’d like you to hold for me.” Kendall said slowly. 

“What is it?” The stranger with the blue tipped hair asked curiously. Chase got a cold feeling and reached out to stop Kendall. 

“No!” Chase shouted along with different variations shouted by his friends. Before the stranger had the opportunity to take the purple energem a series of blasts struck around them, sending Chase and the others to the ground. 

Chase rolled over and surveyed the others as they groaned. He knew he should feel pain, but he bounce up like nothing happened and stared at the monster attacking them. He watched in horror as the monster picked up the purple energem and gloated that he was going to be rewarded for it. 

“My wishes never fail me,” The monster said smugly. 

“I hope you’re right.” Fury said as he appeared. Chase switched his attention from monster to monster as his friends gathered around him. “I wish for you to explode!” Fury announced as he held up a green piece of paper with the word ‘explode’ written on it. 

Chase stared in open-mouthed shock at the sight. Weren’t all the monsters working on the same side? 

Fury caught the gem and ran off as Wishing Star turned on the rangers, determined to gain some of Sledge’s good favor by destroying them. 

Tyler led the team to morph and they battled, with some difficulty, but managed to defeat Wishing Star together. 

“Sweet, now we need to go after Fury.” Chase announced, but should have guessed that the fight wasn’t exactly over yet. 

“Wish Star’s about the shine!” The monster shouted as it grew to skyscraper heights. 

“No,” Tyler said and threw their weapon staff to Koda as Chase and Riley stepped forward and summoned their zords. 

For some reason the zord battles always seemed easier, but the battle was won with a sense of loss. 

__

“We lost purple energem.” Koda said what they were all feeling as they walked back into the lab. 

“If we had not made those wishes,” Ivan sighed and turned his back on the rest of them. “This would not have happened.” 

“Wishes don’t always come true,” Keeper said kindly. “The only sure way to accomplish anything is to keep trying and never give up.” 

Chase frowned and shook his head a bit. ‘Trying’ wouldn’t help his situation. Now that Wishing Star was gone their wishes were reversed. The pain and soreness were back and Chase knew that he would have to endure another full moon. 

Kendall stepped forward and distracted Chase from his dark thoughts. “If Sledge can control the power of that energem, he can build a weapon with frightening strength.”

“There’s only one way to solve this,” Riley said. 

Tyler smiled softly. “Let me guess, logic?” He asked Riley with a shrug. 

“Of course!” Riley grinned and hashed out his plan. Chase looked on and tried to focus on the new plan. “So Sledge is going to come to Earth to find us to fight, right? So we have to go to the place where he’ll never expect us to be.” 

Chase blinked and realized what his boyfriend was suggesting. “To his space ship?” 

Riley looked back at Chase and nodded, “Exactly.”


	15. Chapter 15

The plan worked somewhat well in the sense that they got the purple energem back, as well as the red and crashed Sledge’s ship, destroying him and his minions. 

It had been tense and Chase was glad when it was all over. He was even happier to learn that Kendall had been chosen by the purple energem. She deserved it. In his eyes she had been worthy to be a ranger all along. 

When it was all over Kendall announced that they no longer needed to stay together and told Chase, Riley, Tyler and Shelby that they were free to go if they wanted. Tyler admitted that he wanted to continue his search for his father and Shelby immediately offered to help. 

“I’d like to stay here,” Chase said awkwardly. “If that’s alright. I mean, I wouldn’t mind going to visit my sister for a bit, but I belong here.” 

Kendall grinned and Koda crushed Chase with a bear hug. 

“Of course it’s alright!” Kendall smiled. “I just didn’t want you to feel like you had to stay.” She added as she gave Chase a hug. 

Riley frowned a little and looked at Tyler and Shelby with a look that Chase recognized. Longing. 

“You don’t have to stay.” Chase said. “You can go with them. I’ll understand.” 

“But,” Riley started, but nodded. “This doesn’t mean I want to break up.” 

“Naturally.” Chase winked. “I’ll watch the apartment for you while you’re gone.” He promised. 

“My family!” Koda said and gave them all a giant caveman hug. Chase’s heart melted a little. It would be hard to see Riley go, but he knew it was for the best. He still had Koda, Kendall, Ivan and Keeper. He still had a family and he still had a love, even if he wasn’t close by. 

“I’ll be back to visit.” Riley promised. 

“I’m counting on it.” Chase smiled back and kissed him. 

__

“How are you doing?” Kendall asked as they prepared the lab for ‘transformation’ night. “Are you feeling sick yet? Sore?” 

Chase chuckled a little, although the sound was humorless. He would feel better if Riley was around, but Riley was off on an adventure and Chase reluctantly accepted that. “At least this time I don’t have to worry about getting lost in the woods or any of Sledge’s monsters attacking and we haven’t seen Dr. Thom-ass since you locked him in that cage.” 

It still was difficult for Chase to talk about that particular incident, but he was already nervous about the full moon phase. 

“Maybe you should take your energem off?” Kendall suggested. She sounded about as nervous as Chase felt. 

“Nah, I’d rather keep it on.” Chase said and gripped the pendant protectively. He hadn’t needed it to morph since Sledge’s ship blew, but he rarely went anywhere without it. 

“Okay,” Kendall nodded as Koda and Ivan came in with a series of pillows and blankets. 

Chase looked a little over whelmed at the sight. “Oh, come on guys, this isn’t a slumber party.” 

“Chase need comfort.” Koda pointed out with a stubborn pout. 

Deflated, Chase shook his head and motioned for them to continue. 

“So, what exactly are we doing to help sir Chase through the transformation?” Ivan asked as he watched Koda arrange the pillows. “Beyond making a bed?” He glanced at Kendall expectantly. 

“I got muscle relaxers and morphine.” Kendall said and looked at Chase with a weak smile. “I’m not sure how much I should give you though. Will the drugs transfer over to your wolf form?” 

Chase frowned. “I’m not sure.” He admitted. “I never really took drugs. I didn’t have the money to afford them. I was sick once as a kid and when I turned back into the wolf the sickness seemed to go away.” 

“But that was before you bonded with the black energem.” Kendall frowned. “So there’s no way to know.” 

“We’ll be careful.” Chase sighed. “I trust you.” 

Kendall blushed a little and looked at Ivan who nodded to her in a comforting fashion. “Sir Chase is in good hands.” 

“Chase be okay.” Koda agreed and grabbed ahold of Chase’s arm and man handled him onto the bed of pillows and blankets. “Chase be comfortable.” 

Chase smiled up at Koda and shook his head. “It hasn’t started yet,” he told the caveman gently. “I’d rather be up and about until it starts.” 

“Are we too late?” Tyler asked as he, Riley and Shelby slid down into the lab. 

“What are you guys doing here?” Chase asked and stood just in time to be jumped by his boyfriend. 

“You didn’t think we would leave you to deal with this alone, did you?” Shelby asked as Riley kissed Chase. “PDA much?” She rolled her eyes and sent a longing look at Tyler that only Chase caught. 

“I – I just wasn’t expecting you to come back so soon.” Chase admitted. “It’s only been a few days.” 

“We checked out some leads,” Riley explained with a smile. “Then I got the reminder on my phone about the full moon cycle and we all decided to come back to help you through it.” 

“Kendall’s drugs help Chase.” Koda nodded firmly. “And pillow fort.” 

Chase grinned at Koda and Riley eyed the fort with slight suspicion. “It’s a very nice fort.” Riley agreed after Chase nudged him gently. “Very comfortable looking.” 

“You guys don’t have to do this every time.” Chase winced and held Riley a little bit tighter. 

“Is it starting?” Riley asked worriedly and Chase nodded. 

“It’s just a bit of nausea.” Chase said as Kendall came close and felt his forehead. 

“You do feel a little bit warm.” She tipped her chin up and moved to her medical bag of mystery and pulled out a packet of pills. “I just remembered I picked up some fever-reducer-anti-nausea medicine.” 

“You do think of everything,” Chase said and eyed the pills as he battled unwanted nerves. He was flattered that the entire team was there for him, but he also hated the idea of turning in front of all of them, again. He knew they had all seen it, with the exception of Prince Phillip, who Chase was fairly sure didn’t even know about the wolf, but it didn’t make things any easier. 

Hopefully the drugs would keep him quiet. 

“Alright, let’s do this.” Chase said and took two of the pills with glass of water that Shelby offered. 

“You need to stay hydrated.” Kendall instructed as Riley helped Chase down on Koda’s pillow fort. 

As far as his most recent transformations went the process wasn’t too terrible. Chase was drugged up through most of it and everything was a fuzzy haze. He vaguely remembered Riley being worried that they had given him too many drugs. The fear was probably sparked by Chase not being very alert and being slow to respond to just above everything. 

In the end it had been ‘successful’ in the sense of Chase not being in excruciating pain, but ‘unsuccessful’ in the sense of Chase not enjoying the floaty feeling at all. 

When Chase was human and the drugs worked their way out of his system he waited until Riley was asleep before he talked with Kendall. “We’re not doing it like this again.” He whispered to her. She looked concerned and Chase sighed. “I barely remember anything of the last four days.” He sighed and shifted a little. “And I don’t want to be drug dependent.” 

Kendall nodded reluctantly. “Alright, we’ll try something different during the next full moon. 

Chase nodded and allowed his body to slip back under the blanket of sleep. 

__

“I wish we could stay longer.” Riley told Chase as the others packed up the jeep. “But we may have found a lead on Tyler’s dad.” 

“I understand.” Chase nodded and wrapped his arms around Riley. “Thanks for coming. I mean it, but you don’t have to come every time, Riles. I don’t want to pull you from your life. Kendall, Koda, Keeper and Ivan all have my back. I won’t be alone.” 

Riley deflated a little and nodded. “I know I won’t be able to come every time, but, I’m still going to try.” 

“We all want to be here for you.” Shelby added as she walked by. 

“We’re friends,” Tyler padded Chase on the shoulder. “Friends stick together no matter what.” 

“Thanks guys,” Chase smiled and felt his face warm under the attention. Moana had been right about his unshakable friendships and love. It meant everything to him. “The same goes for me.” 

__

The next full moon came before Chase realized it. Tyler, Shelby and Riley were all off doing summer things and none of them could make the trip to Amber Beach. Riley was stuck at his family farm, much to his distaste, Tyler was out following a lead on his missing father and Shelby was starting College. Chase told them it was fine and that he would be fine. It still sucked that they were gone.

“Are you sure you don’t want the drugs?” Kendall said as they got ready for the transformation. Ivan and Koda were out on a lead, but they planned to be back before things got started. 

“Yeah.” Chase said as he sat on the exam table. “No drugs.” 

“And no energem.” Kendall said. “The theory is that the energem is what is causing the slow down in your transformation. If it’s gone, maybe it’ll be a smoother transition.” 

“I have always worn it during the transformation process.” Chase nodded as he rubbed his hands together. “Well, except when Dr. Ass-Hat had me, but he took it off after the process had already started.” Chase missed the feeling of his energem around his neck. Koda currently had it. Koda had it for several days. 

“It’s just a theory.” Kendall said and sighed. “So there’s no telling what this will or won’t do to you.” 

Chase nodded. “On the bright side I don’t feel sick yet.” He offered lazily as he rubbed at his arms. 

“It’s still early.” Kendall pointed out as she messed around on her data pad. “Sorry, I’m just trying to narrow down these readings.” 

“It’s cool.” Chase shrugged. “I feel fine.” He didn’t. He was a nervous wreck and he wished selfishly that Riley could be there with them. The last full moon cycle had been pretty much amazing, despite not being able to remember any of it. Drugged induced hazes were fleeting. Still, Chase could remember what it felt like to have Riley close by. 

He sighed and got to his feet and paced. 

Time ticked on and Chase’s nerves started to skyrocket in anticipation. 

Kendall looked up from her data pad with a mildly curious look. “You aren’t feeling sick.” It wasn’t a question. It was an observation. Usually by this point Chase would have at least thrown up once. Or dry heaved. 

“No.” Chase let out a shaky breath. “I’m not sick. No pain.” He stopped his endless pacing and looked back at Kendall. “Maybe you were right.” 

Kendall nodded slowly. “How quick was the transformations when you weren’t bonded with the energem?” She asked curiously. Chase was fairly certain he had already told her, but he humored the question with an honest answer regardless. 

“One minute I felt sore, the next I was a wolf.” He said with a shrug. “It was fast.” 

Kendall nodded and grabbed her dino com. “I’m going to tell Koda and Ivan to stay away for a bit. I don’t want to risk the proximity of your energem just yet. This could be a good thing, Chase.” 

Chase nodded reluctant to accept that this might be the first time in a series of full moon cycles where he wasn’t exposed to horrendous pain. It was too much to believe that everything would work out for the best. 

He knew his luck and his luck sucked. 

Close to midnight Chase felt that telltale soreness of his youth. He opened his mouth to warn Kendall, but within the next second he was on all four paws, entangled in his human clothes. With a grunt and a grumble he freed himself from the fabrics and stared up at a shocked Kendall. 

“Well,” Kendall said with her hands on her hips as she stared down at him. “So far so good.” She smiled and scratched him behind the ear affectionately. 

The four days of the full moon cycle past slowly and when it ended Chase was still a wolf. 

“Crap.” Kendall breathed as Chase growled at her. 

This had not been part of the plan.


	16. Chapter 16

“Okay, let’s not panic.” Kendall said with her hands out in a placating manor. Chase continued to growl and pace with his ears flatted against his head and his tail swishing violently. He was very unhappy. Never had he even considered this to be a possibility. “Calm down, Chase, I’ve already contacted Ivan and Koda, they’re bringing back your energem. Maybe if we put it on you now it’ll reverse the – uh, process.” 

Chase was pretty certain at this point that wasn’t going to fix things. 

“Worse case scenario you’re a wolf for a month.” Kendall breathed. It wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t good, but it was doable. One month. Chase whimpered and stopped his ferocious pacing as a horrible thought jumped into his head. What if it wasn’t just one month? What if by experimenting with the curse the energem’s effects were permanently changed? What if everything went back to the way they were before. 

Chase felt his world spin a little and suddenly Kendall knelt beside him in order to hold him steady. 

“It’s going to be okay, Chase, I promise.” Kendall pleaded. Chase wasn’t sure if it was more for her comfort or his. It wasn’t doing much to help his nerves. “This is just a hiccup, we’re going to get things back to normal.” 

Except this was normal. Chase’s ears drooped a little as he pulled away from Kendall and sat with his back turned towards her. 

She was out of apologies and Chase wasn’t ready to make her feel better. 

__

“Wait, what happened?” Riley asked on the other end of the line. “He’s still a wolf? How is that possible?” 

Kendall took a breath before she tried to explain. “I thought it might stop the slow-down in the transformation process. We kept him separated from the energem for nearly a week in an attempt to ‘weaken’ the connection. I guess it worked too well. We reunited him with his energem, but the process didn’t reverse right away.” 

“What does that mean?” Riley asked. He sounded angry. Kendall couldn’t exactly blame him. She glanced back at Chase and Koda and winced a little. Chase hadn’t stopped pouting and she honestly couldn’t blame him. Out of all the possibilities, this one was Chase’s worst nightmare. 

“We think it will reverse after the next full moon cycle.” Kendall explained. 

“You think?” Riley snapped. “You aren’t sure?” 

“There’s no way to be sure.” Kendall sighed out her frustration. “We just have to wait and see.” 

“No, this is not something we can just wait around for.” Riley said angrily. “We can’t just let him stay wolfed-out for a whole month! That’s not fair.” 

“None of this is fair, Riley.” Kendall pointed out. “There’s not a whole lot we can do.” She admitted. “I honestly didn’t think this was a possibility. This is my fault.” 

“No,” Riley sighed. It was a sigh of acceptance. “No, I suggested the same thing during the last full moon cycle. We both didn’t consider this as a result. Maybe there isn’t anything we can do, but maybe we can talk to the witch that did this. Maybe we can convince her to reverse the curse.” 

“Riley,” Kendall closed her eyes and turned her back on the sight of Chase’s ears turned towards her. She had a feeling Chase was listening in on the conversation, but she couldn’t be sure. “Chase doesn’t want us to confront her.” 

“What choice do we have?” Riley demanded. “What if he never regains his human form? What then?” 

Kendall opened her eyes and felt a little defeated. “I’m not sure.” 

“This isn’t just about Chase.” Riley sighed. “What if there’s another threat to the world and the power rangers are needed again? We wouldn’t be able to fight off whatever comes without Chase’s help.” 

Riley had a point, as much as Kendall hated to admit it. “You aren’t going to do this alone.” Kendall told Riley firmly. “We’ll go together.” She looked down as Chase padded over to her side. His eyes were wide and he looked completely betrayed – for a wolf. “I’m sorry.” Kendall breathed. “There’s no other way.” 

Chase’s ears drooped again and he turned away from Kendall. She wasn’t sure if he accepted the fact or that he just couldn’t deal with the added drama. 

“My mother and brother can handle the farm with out me. I’m heading back to Amber Beach,” Riley announced. “I’ll be there by morning if I catch the next bus out.” 

“Okay,” Kendall sighed. “I’ll email Chloe from Chase’s account. She might know how to get in contact with Chase’s father.” 

“We’re fixing this.” Riley told her. Although Kendall had the feeling he was confirming the fact to himself more than to her. 

“Yes,” she agreed regardless. “We are.” 

__

Riley’s arrival didn’t seem to help Chase’s sour mood. He raised his wolf’s head and looked in Riley’s direction for a moment before he curled back up and huffed a sigh. Riley shared a look with Koda, who had taken up permanent residence by Chase’s side. 

Koda and Ivan were the only ones Chase seemed to accept near him. 

“He’s a little moody.” Kendall commented as Riley moved over to Chase and Chase immediately got up and walked away from him without a second glance in Riley’s direction. 

“Being potentially permanently changed into an animal will do that to a person.” Riley sighed and rested his hands on his hips as he looked at Koda. The caveman looked stricken with concern. 

“It – forever?” Koda asked, horrified in his own way. 

“There’s no way of knowing.” Riley told his friend gently. 

“We’re going to fix it.” Kendall said as she appeared at Riley’s side. “That’s all that matters.” She looked at Riley and handed him his plane ticket. “We’re on the next flight to New Zealand. Chloe came through, she gave me, or, well, Chase, their dad’s new address.” 

“We are going to fix this.” Riley said as he tried to approach Chase again. The wolf looked at him with dull eyes and trotted off to the back of Koda’s cavern. With a sigh Riley watched his boyfriend turned wolf go. 

“He’ll be okay,” Kendall tried to console Riley the best way she could. Her efforts failed, but Riley appreciated the efforts regardless.

“Let’s go.” Riley told her. “The sooner we leave the sooner we can give Chase his life back.” 

Kendall nodded and glanced back to Ivan. “Remember to help Heckyl, he’s still learning the ropes in the café. I want to find this place still standing when we return.” 

Ivan nodded. “I will do my best to guide his actions in an honorable way.” 

“Heckyl?” Riley frowned at Kendall as they made their way out of the lab. “That’s a unique name.” 

“Yes, I had to hire some new employees to replace you guys.” Kendall sighed. “He’s the man who saved me from getting hit by that car just before we lost the purple energem.” She smiled. “He’s quite charming. I’m sure you’re going to like him.”

Riley shrugged and nodded. 

__

About sixteen hours later and Riley and Kendall knocked on Chase’s dad’s front door. The house was modest and didn’t scream of anything special. The man who answered the door didn’t look much like Chase. He was unsmiling and had his facial hair was not well kept. 

“What do you want?” Chase’s father asked unpleasantly as he eyed Kendall with some vague semblance of recognition. “What’s my son done?” 

“Nothing.” Kendall said smoothly. “He’s been an excellent help and a wonderful friend.” 

The man huffed and leaned a little heavier against the doorframe. 

Riley tried very hard not to glare at the man. His mother had always reminded him that he could catch more flies with honey than hot sauce. 

“We’re here to ask you about,” Kendall hesitated momentarily before she lowered her voice slightly. “His condition.” 

Chase’s father’s eyes narrowed sharply at that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he snapped and moved to shut the door. Riley was quick to put his foot in between the door and the frame. He winced a little from the impact. 

“I think you do.” Riley said pointedly. “We just need to know where the witch is, who she is, we want to talk to her.” 

“If he’s still turning into that thing,” Chase’s father practically spat the word ‘thing’ out like it was something less than his son. Something less than Chase. The implication made Riley’s skin crawl. “You should kick it to the woods before it kills you.” 

“Chase is not dangerous,” Kendall spoke before Riley could find the words he wanted to shout. “He’s our friend and unlike you we don’t plan to abandon him. We want to help him.” 

“There’s no helping that animal.” Chase’s father said with only the slightest hint of remorse. “She’s not going to let it go and you’d be better off staying clear of her evil.” This time Chase’s dad did literally spit at their feet. 

“Just give us a name.” Kendall said and held her hand up to stop Riley from starting a fight. “Let us worry about the woman.” 

“Karyn Embor,” Chase’s father bit out and kicked Riley’s foot out of the way before he slammed the door shut in their faces. 

“Clearly he is not where Chase get’s his fun-loving nature.” Kendall commented as she straightened out her shirt and turned to Riley. “We have ourselves a name, now we just need to find the woman.”

There was a loud laughing noise that startled the both of them and then – nothing. 

__

Ivan’s phone ringing drew Chase from his moody sulking. His ears tipped up and switched back and forth as he listened to the sound. Ivan was up in the café. He rarely remembered his phone, since he rarely used it. The only people who called that phone were power rangers. 

Since Sledge had been destroyed the urgency of having the phone on Ivan’s person had dimmed to the point of being unnecessary. 

Chase’s nose twitched a little and he frowned as much as his canine-like snout would allow him to. He was worried it was Riley or Kendall trying to update Ivan on whatever was happening in New Zealand with his father. 

Although Chase didn’t like the fact that his boyfriend and his adopted big-sister were off facing the big bad witch of the south-east. Chase shook his head, he wasn’t even sure if that was right. What he was sure of was the fact that Ivan needed to remember to have his phone on him at all times. 

With a series of unhappy growls Chase got up and eyed the phone with slight distain before he used his paws against the table to allow his mouth to clamp around the digital talking device. 

The ringing had stopped, but there was a beep-ding noise that notified that a message had been left. 

Chase glanced towards the exit of the lab and trotted out to search for Ivan. 

This being the first time he Chase had wandered through the museum in wolf form was interesting. He got a few odd looks from the museum goers and a few startled gasps, but Chase ignored it all and trotted into the café like he belonged there. His human self belonged. 

“What on earth is that?” Heckyl, the newest addition to Kendall’s café team yelped a little as he pointed to Chase and moved to stand a bit behind Ivan. 

Ivan stared at Chase and after a moment looked at Heckyl with a smile that barely hid deception. “This – this is my dog.” 

Koda appeared and tipped his head a little at Ivan’s words and frowned at Chase before he brightened. “Chase!” Koda said excitedly. 

“No Koda, my dog – uh, can’t chase anything right now.” Ivan said pointedly and Koda frowned before he nodded, suddenly aware that Heckyl was in the room with them. 

“Oh, right, no chase.” Koda nodded and frowned as he got down to Chase’s level and noticed Ivan’s phone in between Chase’s teeth. “He already chase.” Koda said and handed Ivan the device. 

“Right,” Ivan said and looked at the phone and then Heckyl. “I trained him to retrieve my mobile device when I left it – uh, behind.” 

Heckyl looked skeptical and eyed Chase with morbid curiosity. “He’s your dog?” Heckyl asked again slowly. 

“Yes.” Ivan nodded with a grim nod to Chase. Chase figured it was the closest thing he was going to get to an apology from the knight. Being called a dog wasn’t really that big of a deal, but Chase wasn’t exactly a fan of being ‘owned’ by any of his friends, for cover or not. “My dog.” 

Heckyl seemed to relax a little and walked over to Koda and Chase and held out his hand for Chase to sniff. 

Although reluctant, Chase played the part of ‘animal’ and gave Heckyl’s hand a good sniff. It smelled weird. Chase couldn’t exactly place why. Maybe Heckyl used some sort of strangely scented moisturizer. 

“What’s it’s name?” Heckyl asked Ivan with his typical curiosity. 

Ivan paled a little and looked at Chase, then Koda and then Ivan. “Wolf.” 

“Wolfie.” Koda corrected brightly as he patted Chase’s head. Chase turned to Koda and gave his best wolf-glare. Koda’s smile diminished a little, but Heckyl seemed appeased. 

“Interesting name.” Heckyl said and studied the animal. “Fitting.” 

Ivan straightened his back and sent Chase a smug smile. “I thought so.” He said, glowing under the acceptance of the name he picked. 

Chase was going to kill him. 

Figuratively. 

Maybe. 

Heckyl gave Chase a scratch behind the ear before he turned back to Ivan. “Magnificent animal. However did you come to possess it?” 

Chase’s ears flatted against his head as he gave Ivan his best wolf-glare. Ivan had the decency to pale and take a step back. 

“Uh, it’s not all that interesting of a story.” Ivan said and scratched the side of his face absentmindedly. “He was a birthday present. Well, anyway, Kendall doesn’t like him in the kitchen, I need to take him out.” Ivan waved a little at Heckyl and sent Koda a stressed look as he grabbed Chase by the fur and forcefully led the black ranger to one of the side doors. 

“Chase, you know better than to reveal yourself so casually.” Ivan scolded as he walked with Chase to the secret entrance of the lab. Chase let Ivan turn the tooth to activate the slide. While Chase thought he could probably manage the task on his own, it was harder without thumbs. Chase snorted in Ivan’s face, hopped up on the dino head and swished his tail in Ivan’s face as he slid down with far more grace than his human body ever mustered. 

“Rude.” Ivan cursed behind Chase as he followed him down. “I don’t know what all the fuss is about.” The knight grumbled as he looked at his phone. “It was only sir Tyler.” He added and Chase’s ears drooped a little. He had hoped it had been Riley leaving the message. Ivan pressed the phone against his ear as he listened to the message left by their former leader. 

As he listened the knights skin paled. Chase whined in response. Tyler’s voice was too muffled for even his sensitive ears to hear. 

“It likely is nothing.” Ivan tried to play off his concern as he dialed Tyler back. Chase began to pace in anticipation. Something was happening, he could feel it in his bones. “He did not answer.” Ivan said and stared down at the phone in his hand in clear confusion. He looked at Chase and joined the wolf in pacing. 

“It sounded as if he may have been attacked by something.” Ivan muttered to himself thoughtfully and snapped his fingers. “I’ll call Ms. Morgan, she’ll know what to do.” 

Chase yipped a little in agreement and moved to sit by Ivan’s feet as he placed the phone call. 

“It’s ringing.” Ivan told Chase with merely a glance in his direction. The seconds ticked by and Chase’s ears drooped as he realized that Kendall wasn’t answering. “Hm,” Ivan frowned deeply before locking eyes with Chase. “Don’t look at me that way.” Ivan pleaded. 

“What way?” Koda asked as he joined them in the lab. “Chase!” Koda knelt by Chase and gave him a glorious rub down. Chase could barely enjoy it as he shifted a little and focused on Ivan. 

“Tyler left me a strange voice mail.” Ivan said thoughtfully. “I tried to call Kendall and she didn’t answer either.” 

“Shelby.” Koda suggested confidently. “She know how to work machines.” 

“Right,” Ivan agreed and dialed the number he knew by heart. His face fell after five rings. “No answer.” Ivan said and bit the inside of his lip. 

“Maybe she in class?” Koda said, ever the optimist. 

“No,” Ivan shook his head. “She was only registering for classes, she wasn’t going to start classes for another few weeks.” 

Chase whimpered and ducked down before springing up. He was restless and wanted to do something. Something was obviously happening to his friends and he wasn’t about to sit around and do nothing. He barked and growled and his friends frowned at him. 

“How do we locate sir Tyler?” He asked Koda who shrugged in response. 

If Chase could talk he’d suggest using Kendall’s computer to get a ping on Tyler’s phone’s GPS. He growled instead and moved over to Kendall’s computer and pointed with his nose and barked again. 

“That is all well and fine, sir Chase,” Ivan grumbled as he moved to look at the computer. “But I barely have mastered the art of the cell phone.” 

Chase’s ears drooped again and he huffed his best wolf-sigh. 

“Wait, Tyler on way back here.” Koda said and stood up straight. “I remember, he said he drive through south forest by Sampson caves!” 

“Right, I remember sir Tyler mentioning that as well.” Ivan nodded. “We should start there and see what we can find.” He nodded and led Koda towards the exit of the base. Dutifully, Chase followed. 

Koda stopped and turned back to Chase just as they got to the end of the hallway. “No, Chase stay here.” Koda said firmly. 

Ivan turned around and Chase felt a sense of dread fill him. He couldn’t just wait around the lab for someone to come back – what if they never came back? He gave a little bark-whine and shook his head, but it didn’t seem to sway them to his side. 

“No, Chase.” Ivan said and tried to pat Chase on his head. Chase flinched out of the way of Ivan’s hand stubbornly. He wasn’t happy and he wasn’t going to pretend like he was. “Koda’s right, you can’t help us in this form.”

Chase disagreed. He was a freaking wolf. He could fight if he needed too and he could sniff out Tyler, but there was no way to explain those things to Ivan who left with Koda and shut Chase in the lab. 

Alone, Chase stared at the door and felt nothing but betrayal. He knew on some level that Ivan and Koda were worried about his smaller, more vulnerable form, but Chase knew he was stronger than that. He had taken on a pack of wolves and protected Riley. Granted he nearly died from that incident, but Chase was willing to over look that fact to fuel his plight. 

After a few minutes of staring at the door Chase made up his mind. He wasn’t going to sit around and wait. He would go after his friends and find Tyler. 

Chase managed to get the door open and sneak out of the museum. He even managed to make it to the edge of town. 

That was when animal control showed up. There was a spark of pain in his hip and then blurred figures of large, strange men wrapping a plastic loop around his neck and then, darkness.


	17. Chapter 17

The group had won the battle, thanks to Koda’s bravery and Tyler’s clever plan. A new threat had risen with Snide, but the rangers had won their first battle against him and his monsters. Well, Riley thought as he walked into the lab, it had been Sledge’s monster, but that was a thought for another day. 

Riley frowned, barely listening as Kendall talked to Koda about his fear of ice as he looked for the one person he missed the most during the battle. Chase. 

Prince Phillip swept into the room and distracted Riley momentarily. Shelby announced that the aqua energem had been found and bonded to by someone, but the silver energem was still missing. Keeper announced that once all the energems were found he could become the guardian of them again and everyone seemed to agree that they were going to become the power rangers again. Fighting monsters and saving the world. 

Riley didn’t mind giving up the farm life again. 

He did mind the fact that something was definitely missing in the lab. “Where’s Chase?” He asked and the others frowned. 

Prince Phillip glanced around at the humans in the room and frowned. “He was not rescued with the rest of you?” 

“We left Chase here.” Koda said with a frown and looked at Ivan. “He not here when Tyler and I came back.” 

“That’s right.” Tyler frowned. “I kind of didn’t think much about it.”

“He’s stuck in his wolf form.” Kendall announced to the members of the group that didn’t know. 

“What?” Shelby gasped. “How did that happen?” 

“Wolf-form?” Prince Phillip asked with a look of shock and curiosity. 

“Oh, right,” Riley sighed. “You were never around long enough for us to tell you. Chase was cursed when he was ten and, to shorten things, Chase sometimes turns into a wolf.” 

“The transformations became painful once he bonded with the black energem,” Kendall picked up the explanation easily. “I thought that if we separated him from his energem for a while it might dull the effect, but in the end he just remained a wolf. Riley and I were trying to find the witch that cursed him when Ice Age attacked us.” 

“That doesn’t tell us where Chase is now.” Shelby pointed out as she looked at Koda and Ivan. “Did you shut the lab door when you left?”

Ivan frowned and paled a little. “We did, but he managed to get it open before.” He looked at Tyler and sighed. “When you left your voice message on my mobile phone Chase brought it too me in the café. I didn’t really think much of it, but he must have figured out a way to open the door.” 

“Chase is creative.” Riley frowned. “He probably went after you guys to help search for Tyler. He would have hated being left behind if something was happening.” 

Koda hunched over a little, guilt a firm weight on his shoulders. “Should have taken him with us.” 

Ivan nodded regretfully and looked at Riley. “We should go look for him.” 

Riley’s heart started to beat faster as he shared a glance with Kendall. “There are a lot of dangers out in the city for a wolf. Chase grew up in the woods in New Zealand, he didn’t have much human contact as a wolf, at least not that I know of.” 

Kendall nodded. “Amber Beach is a much denser city.” She agreed. “Anything could have happened.” 

He could have been hit by a car or attacked by a fearful landowner or even picked up by animal control. The possibilities were endless. 

“Prince Phillip and Ivan should go check the woods. Tyler and Koda walk along the path from here to Sampson Cave and see if you can find any trace of him. Kendall and I are going to the pound.” 

“The pound?” Ivan asked with a wince. 

“It’s where unlicensed dogs go if they get caught by animal control.” Riley explained shortly. “Chase is a wolf and he looks like a wolf. We need to go fast, if they think he’s dangerous they might put him down or relocate him somewhere were he is too disoriented to find his way back. He hasn’t lived as the wolf in a while – what if he can’t hunt? He might starve to death, or be attacked by another pack.” 

Shelby gasped, “I’m coming with you guys.” She insisted. 

Riley nodded. “I was going to suggest that you stay close to the museum if he comes back, but if Chase makes it back he’ll be smart enough to keep his head down until one of us return.”

“I’ll inform Heckyl that if my dog shows up to keep him in the kitchen.” Ivan announced boldly. 

“What?” Riley blinked. “You told Heckyl he was yours?” 

“What did you call him?” Kendall asked, stressed as she rubbed her fingers against her forehead. 

“Wolfie.” Koda supplied with a grin that was quickly snuffed out by the collective glares he received. 

“Chase probably hated that.” Riley sighed, but the damage had already been done. “Let’s go, the sooner we get out there the faster we can find Chase.” 

Riley walked by the chargers and eyed the black energem. He was glad Chase didn’t have the relic on him, but at the same time it would be far easier to track Chase down if he were wearing it. 

He just hoped that Chase, wherever he might be, was okay. 

__

Chase woke slowly. He focused on the bars around him first and his heartbeat sped up. He flinched, but his body wasn’t ready to move just yet. Drugged, he realized as he blinked slowly at the bars. Was he in the hands of Dr. Thomas again? He let out a little huff and raised his head to get a better look around. 

It looked like a lab. He was in a cage off to the side. 

Not good. Chase laid his head back down and tried to remember what had happened. He had been shot with a dart of some sort. A tranquilizer. There had been strange men, but they hadn’t smelt like Dr. Thomas. 

“Ah, it’s awake.” A voice said. “Such a beautiful creature.” The man said and Chase lifted his head and twisted his ears towards the man. He was an older gentlemen with kind eyes. “What on earth was something as gorgeous as you doing on the streets of Amber Beach?” 

Chase would have frowned if he could have. The man in front of him was not dangerous in the same sense of Dr. Thomas, but there was still the potential for disaster. They were in a lab, Chase thought as he looked around again. There was an examination table and lots of machinery. The exam table was too small to be for a human, though. 

Involuntarily, Chase swallowed thickly and eyed the stranger again. He had a nametag that filled in some of Chase’s questions. Dr. Bentlen of animal control. 

Great. 

“Don’t you fret.” Dr. Bentlen said as he stood up to his full height. “As soon as I get your blood work cleared I’ll deliver you back to where you truly belong.” 

Well that didn’t sound hopeful, Chase thought. Where he truly belonged was at a museum with his friends – not that this doctor would ever figure that out alone. Not that Chase could tell the doctor in so many words. 

Being stuck in an animal’s body was a pain in the ass. 

A dark thought creped into Chase’s mind, actually, a series of dark thoughts. What if his ‘tests’ came back as human? What would the kindly doctor think then? What if something else showed up? What if this doctor decided that relocation wasn’t the best option? 

Chase eyed the exam table again and a chill worked its way through his body from his nose to the tip of his tail. 

For a moment Chase allowed himself to be fearful of his own fate. He vividly remembered what it was like to be caught by Dr. Thomas. The idea of being in a similar situation made him visibly tremble. 

The moment passed and Chase began to wonder what had become of his friends. Had Riley and Kendall finally gotten ahold of Ivan? Was Tyler okay? What about Shelby? The worry made Chase’s stomach twist painfully. 

There was nothing he could do to help his friends as long as he remained stuck behind bars. 

“Dr. Brentlen, there are some people here you may want to talk to.” A petite redheaded girl said as she entered the lab area. She glanced in Chase’s direction and smiled a little as she made eye contact. “Oh, he’s awake. He’s just as beautiful as I thought he’d be.” 

“He is a magnificent creature.” Dr. Brentlen agreed and stood from his chair. “Keep your distance, Meg, beautiful or not, he could take your hand off.” 

Meg nodded as her smile faded a little. 

Chase’s heart clenched a little tighter. He knew these people didn’t know that he wasn’t actually a wolf, but the reminder that he was only a wild animal made his heart feel sore. He ducked his head a little and moved away from the bars of his cage. 

He wished Riley would show up. He knew it was impossible. Even if Riley learned within the last few hours that Chase was missing it would still take the majority of a day for him to travel back to Amber Beach from New Zealand, and that was being generous. 

No, Chase was out of luck and on his own. It was unlikely that Ivan or Koda would be able to find him. They probably didn’t even know what the ‘pound’ was or let alone know where to fined it. 

Meg and Dr. Brentlen left the lab and Chase stood and started to pace the interior of his cage. He felt a little sick to his stomach from the drugs he had been injected with and exhausted, but the fear and stress kept him moving. 

Would his friends be all right? Chase hoped so. Maybe the black energem would un-bond with him and bond with someone new. The world deserved a hero that wasn’t part-animal. 

A while later Chase’s ears perked up as he heard raised voices. 

“You can’t convince me that the animal we have in there is your dog.” Dr. Brentlen’s voice was saying. For a calm, nice older gentleman, he had a pretty vicious ‘no-nonsense’ voice. 

“Please,” another voice said. It sounded suspiciously familiar. No, Chase thought and snorted as he shook his head. Riley was in New Zealand with Kendall. There was no way they could be back in Amber Beach so quickly. 

“No, the animal we have is a wolf.” Dr. Brentlen insisted. “I ran the tests myself. Yes, there was an anomaly, but it had to be due to human contamination. There is no way that wild animal could be considered a pet.” 

“What if we could prove it?” Not-Riley asked. 

“How?” Dr. Brentlen asked with a sigh of exasperation. 

“Let me see him,” Riley’s voice requested calmly. “He’ll listen to me and do whatever I say. He isn’t wild and he isn’t a danger. I can prove it. Let me.” 

“Fine.” Dr. Brentlen agreed after a reluctant pause. “But when your efforts fail I will ask you to leave the facility and never come back.” 

“We agree.”

Huh, Chase thought as his ears twitched and turned. That sounded like Kendall’s voice. 

The door opened and Riley and Kendall entered the room with Dr. Brentlen. Chase stared at them in shock, although the expression probably didn’t translate on his wolf-face. 

“Impress me with your animal taming skills.” Dr. Brentlen said coldly and waved Riley forward towards the cage Chase sat in. 

“Hey, Chase.” Riley greeted awkwardly. “Let’s show him what you can do.” He said slowly. “Speak.” 

Chase hesitated, only for a moment, to show Riley that he wasn’t thrilled being treated like an actual animal, but obeyed with a swift bark. 

Dr. Brentlen started so fast that he nearly lost his glasses from his nose. 

“Chase, spin to the right,” Riley continued and Chase obeyed. “Spin to the left. Sit. Jump. High-five.” 

The commands continued and Chase dutifully completed each task. 

Dr. Bentlen watched in slack-jawed shock. “That’s impossible!” The man said as he watched Chase perform trick after trick. “This is a wild animal! I ran the tests myself.” 

“Perhaps you read the results wrong.” Kendall said very carefully as she handed over a series of papers. “As you can see we have all the paperwork. We would like our dog back.” 

“But he’s a wolf!” Dr. Bentlen insisted. “He belongs in the wild, not to be kept as a common pet.” 

Kendall cleared her throat. “No offense, doctor, but wouldn’t it be crueler to send a defenseless animal out into the wild and expect it to hunt and act like a wild animal when it clearly has been domesticated? It would starve to death.” 

Chase would have frowned if he could have. In his defense, he would be able to survive as the wolf. Although it felt like a lifetime, it wasn’t very long ago that Chase was more wolf than human. He figured his friends had a hard time really believing that had been his life. 

Still, not being sent to the woods would be preferable. 

Meg stepped closer to the doctor. “Sir, we have no choice but to let them take their property. All their paperwork is legitimized. We have no legal reason to keep the animal here.” 

“I’ll find a reason!” Dr. Bentlen insisted, but sighed in defeat. “Fine, take your ‘dog’ for now, but I will have him back. He doesn’t belong among humans – not unless he’s on display at the local zoo!” 

Chase swallowed thickly at that thought. He wondered what the animal keepers at the zoo would think of when they lose a wolf during the full moon and find a naked, possible mostly eaten dead man in its place. 

Riley looked like he was about to lose his outward calm and punch the doctor square in the jaw. Kendall’s gentle hand on his arm stilled the potential for violence and Riley moved over and undid the latch of the cage’s door. 

Dr. Bentlen and Meg both took several steps back as Chase exited the cage and glanced from them up to Riley. 

“Hi, there.” Riley said and knelt down next to Chase giving his fur a glorious rub down with his gentle fingers. “I know it hasn’t been very long, but I missed you.” Riley whispered in Chase’s ears and gently kissed his fuzzy cheek. 

Chase wondered briefly if it would gross Riley out if he licked his face, but decided not to try it. He was hopelessly in love with Riley and there was only so much a person could take of their boyfriend being an animal. 

Riley would eventually figure out it wasn’t worth the trouble and leave Chase. 

“Come on,” Riley said and stood. “Let’s go home.” 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Meg asked as the doctor stomped out of the room. 

“Forgetting?” Kendall repeated curiously. 

“His leash and collar.” Meg clarified with a frown. “It’s a rule in Amber Beach that all dogs must be contained, especially if they are breeds that are considered dangerous. Like a wolf.” 

“He’s a mix.” Kendall frowned, but nodded. “Do you have a temporary set we could borrow? I completely forgot to grab his from the house.” 

Meg sighed and glanced at Chase with a look of longing. “Sure, I’ll go get them, but, uh, would it be alright, I mean, would he mind it if I pet him?” 

“He likes being scratched behind the ears.” Riley coached the girl as she hesitantly stepped forward. She reached out and nearly jumped back when Chase gave her fingers a playful lick. A smile broke out on her face as she finally scratched Chase behind the ears. It wasn’t as glorious as Kendall’s magic fingers, but it still felt pretty amazing. 

“Thank you,” Meg said finally and turned to leave the room, “I’ll be right back with the leash and collar.” She promised and skipped away.


	18. Chapter 18

“Don’t look so sad.” Riley said as they arrived back at the museum. “I think it looks good on you.” 

The pink collar and black leash looked anything but ‘good’ in Chase’s opinion. 

“Oh my!” Shelby blinked and beamed at the sight of Chase as he finally made it down into the lab with the rest of the team. Chase immediately sat down and used his back leg to scratch at the offensive thing wrapped around his neck. 

“Even as a wolf Chase as a way with words.” Riley said and rolled his eyes as he unclipped the pink collar and freed Chase who immediately snatched the collar in between his teeth and began tearing it apart. 

“Chase!” Kendall started, but sighed and shook her head. “You wouldn’t have needed that at all if you had just stayed in the lab where you could have been safe.” 

On their drive back to the museum Kendall and Riley had dutifully filled Chase in on everything he had missed. He had listened and acknowledged when they had asked if he understood everything. 

Sledge was gone, but someone else had taken his place. Snide. The name was a little on the nose, but Chase figured it didn’t matter. 

It was becoming clearer to Chase that unless something drastic changed, he was out of the fight. As a wolf he couldn’t morph into a power ranger and the others needed the black energems power if they were ever going to defeat a new enemy. Chase hangs his head a little and pulls his tail in closer. 

The room around him goes from light to heavy in an instant. 

“Hey, we were just kidding,” Tyler says to Chase as he walked closer. “I mean, the pink did look nice against your fur, but, well, you don’t have to wear a collar anymore.” 

“He will if he goes outside.” Kendall insisted. “But we can get him another one. It might be risky to leave it on all the time. If he suddenly morphs back into his human-form a collar might strangle him, or worse, cut his head clean off.” 

The room shuddered with that imagery. Chase felt cold. He hadn’t even thought about that. Sure there were times when he struggled to get out of his human clothes after a transformation, but he’d never been strangled. 

“It’ll be okay, Chase.” Riley promises. 

Chase wasn’t so sure. He was sure that he’d never attempt to help his friends again in his wolf body. As a wolf he only caused problems. 

__

It didn’t take long for Riley and Kendall to fly back to New Zealand to continue their search. They had used Kendall’s hacking skills to locate Karyn Embor. It wasn’t hard. A quick Google search and they found her. The name was an original, at least online. There were a few articles about her magic shop and all it’s strange properties. 

Chase seemed to be subdued and let them go without any fanfare. Riley didn’t like seeing Chase so sad, but he wasn’t as standoffish as before the first trip to New Zealand. 

Kendall stood in front of the old stone house and shivered a little. She wondered if they would come out of this in one piece. She glanced at Riley and expected he thought somewhat the same. 

Riley wasn’t one to believe in magic or superstition, but Chase was living proof that not all of it was fake. Kendall wondered if Riley realized how much danger they were putting themselves into by visiting a potentially hazardous witch. 

The door opened and a young woman in her late twenties to early thirties came out. She smiled at Kendall and then at Riley and greeted them. “Are you here to see Ms. Embor?” She asked. 

Kendall nodded firmly. “Yes, is she available?” 

“You are just in luck!” The girl grinned. “She out in the garden. Come with me, I’ll announce that you have arrived.” The girl nodded and invited them in. Kendall thought it was a little odd, the phrasing the girl gave, like they had been expected, but let it go as she eyed the contents of the house. There were a variety of strange, but beautiful things. 

Riley stayed quiet until they were told to wait at the back door as the apparent housekeeper moved forward to the older, white haired lady standing by a large bush of roses. 

“She looks like the witch from Beauty and the Beast.” Riley whispered to Kendall who promptly smacked his arm and regained her composure as the younger lady returned. 

“She will see you now. Talk softly and if she says no to your request, don’t argue.” The last bit, Kendall was pretty sure it was a warning. 

“Yes.” Kendall nodded and glanced at Riley as he led the way forward and into the small, but rich garden. 

“Ma’am.” Riley spoke before Kendall could gather her words. “We’re here about a curse you may have placed on a friend of ours.” 

The old woman stopped her fiddling with the roses and turned her icy eyes onto Riley. “A curse I placed,” she repeated. Her voice was clear and did not shake as she used her cane to move to a stone table and sat down on one of the cushioned chairs. “The wolf curse.” She guessed and looked at Kendall. The gaze of the woman nearly made Kendall’s heart freeze. 

Suddenly she was very worried about what would happen to them. 

“Our friend is special to us,” Kendall picked up when Riley didn’t continue. “He’s a good man who has the potential to protect a lot of people.” 

“The curse is keeping him from doing that.” Riley added quietly. 

Karyn Embor’s nodded slowly and let out a short sigh. “It was the only curse I have ever cast and I’ve regretted it ever since. I hoped that the boy’s father would come and plead to me to reverse the curse, but he never did. It’s been too long, the wolf is apart of him now. If you try and separate them, your friend will surely die.” 

“What?” Riley gasped. To Kendall it sounded more like a sob. “Die? But, he’s in so much pain already. Every time he turns he’s in agony.” 

The woman looked surprised at that news. “The transformation should not hurt him. I was very clear when I designed the curse.” 

“There are circumstances that changed the curses make up.” Kendall tried to explain. “I can’t tell you exactly what, but he bonded with an object that made it so he could be human for the majority of the month and a wolf only during the full moon cycle, but it also slows down the transformation process.” 

The old woman paled considerably. “The pain from that must be unimaginable.” She looked down at the table and abruptly stood. “Although I can’t break the curse, I may be able to help your friend.” She announced and glided back towards her house. Kendall watched in slight surprise at how elegant the woman moved despite the cane and advanced age. She wondered if it was more of a prop than anything else, but kept her mouth shut as she and Riley followed. 

“What can you do?” Riley asked as they followed the woman into a room filled with jarred spices and other mysterious looking vials. The woman grabbed this and that as she explained. 

“I can hopefully change the make up of the curse.” Embor said. “If he takes the elixir I create he should be able to control when he shifts at any time.” 

“So, he’ll be a shape shifter?” Riley’s hope perked up a little. 

“If it works, yes.” The woman nodded. “He will still feel the need to transform when the moon is full if he continues to be bound to the object you mentioned. If he resists there is a chance that he may become sick, but it shouldn’t be anything like the pain he is currently experiencing.” 

“And the sickness might not happen at all?” Kendall asked hopefully. 

The woman looked at Kendall and sighed a little. “You will have to wait and see.” She admitted. “However, if he loses the bond to the object you mentioned, he may be sick all the time if he doesn’t shift forms often.” 

Riley took in a sharp breath and Kendall glanced at him worriedly. “We’ll explain everything to Chase. This will be his choice.” She promised. Riley nodded and let out another sigh. 

“Is there nothing else you can do?” Riley asked worriedly. 

“No.” The woman said. “Not without risking his life.” 

Kendall nodded lightly. “Can – may I ask why you cursed Chase? You said you regretted it.” 

The woman’s shoulders sank a little as she twisted the metal cap of the vial she had been working on shut. “His father was a pharmacist. He wasn’t paying attention and mixed my son’s pills. My son died and I let my sorrow and anger turn into vengeance. I cast the curse on the pharmacist’s son so he would know what it would feel like to have his son ripped away from him.” 

Kendall nodded slowly. She didn’t agree with the woman’s methods, but she had felt a bit of vengeance inside of her when she learned of Chase’s condition. If this old woman had refused to help Chase at all, Kendall wasn’t sure what she would have done. Kendall could see how anger and the darkest of sadness could drive a person to hurt another in an attempt to fill the void. 

“I regretted it deeply,” Karyn Embor said as she handed Riley the glass bottle. “Please, if he ever wishes to confront me, let him know I will not stop him.” 

Riley’s face contorted in disgust. “Chase would never hurt you for what you did to him. Although completely unfair he’s lived his life as fully as possible despite his – despite the curse.” 

The woman nodded. “My granddaughter will lead you out.” She said and the younger woman reentered the room and smiled at them knowingly. 

“Thank you,” Kendall said sincerely. “For helping him.” 

__

Riley clutched a little bottle in his hand as Kendall drove them back to the airport. 

“How are we going to do this?” He asked after a long stretch of silence.

“Do what?” Kendall glanced at him curiously. 

“Get him to drink this.” Riley sighed. “What if he doesn’t believe she would want to help him? What if he doesn’t drink it?” 

“He may not trust her,” Kendall nodded, “but he does trust us. Besides, this is his choice, Riley, we can’t make him drink it, it wouldn’t be right. If he doesn’t want to drink the potion we’ll figure something else out.” 

Riley wasn’t sure he liked playing the odds. He was worried about Chase. The potion had the potential of saving Chase a lot of pain in his future, but what if Chase rejected it?

Riley wasn’t certain he could let that happen.


	19. Chapter 19

Chase was happy when Shelby told him Kendall and Riley were on their way back from New Zealand. Shelby didn’t go into much detail, but Chase figured the trip had been a flop. He didn’t hold much faith that the person who could curse a total strange would change their mind and want to help. 

“Hey, do you want to go for a walk?” Shelby asked as she scratched at Chase’s head. “You’ve been stuck down in the lab for a while now, maybe some fresh air would do you some good?” 

“Do you think that would be wise?” Ivan asked with a raised eyebrow. “The last time sir Chase left the lab he was apprehended by the local animal authorities.” 

“True.” Shelby nodded, but grinned. “But we have the papers Kendall forged and the collar, leash and dog tags Riley bought.” 

Chase ducked his head and whined a little. He didn’t particularly want to go anywhere with a pink collar around his neck. 

“No, not the pink one.” Shelby laughed. “You destroyed that one pretty good, remember? Riley bought you a different one, see?” She stood and fetched a bag from the far corner of the lab. “A black collar, very you.” She promised and let Chase examine the offensive thing. 

Although Chase didn’t like the idea of being collared and leashed, he did like the idea of getting outside for a bit. He wasn’t used to all the captivity he had put up with over the last few weeks. When he regained his human form he vowed not to set foot within the lab if it weren’t absolutely necessary. 

He just hoped he wouldn’t have to spend the next month in his wolf form. It had been a lot easier to be a wolf full time when he had no friends or family to interact with. Chase definitely didn’t want to lose what he had. 

With a snort he sat down and allowed Shelby to clip on the collar. 

“It looks good, I promise.” Shelby promised. 

“I still do not think this is a good idea.” Ivan frowned at the two of them. Shelby waved him off and Chase scratched at his ear. 

“So come with us.” Shelby said as she clipped on the leash. Chase didn’t like the restrictive feel, but accepted it. He missed the feel of the sun and fresh air. He’d do just about anything to be free of the lab, even for an hour or two. 

Ivan nodded in agreement and the trio left the lab only to run into Heckyl just outside the café. 

“Heckyl,” Shelby greeted with a big grin. “Are you just finishing up your shift?” 

Heckyl grinned when he saw them and nodded. “Yes, it was quite uneventful.” 

“At least you didn’t have a patron who tossed their burger back in your face.” Ivan pouted. “They said it wasn’t cooked thoroughly enough.” 

“Ouch.” Shelby winced in sympathy. 

“Yes, that is mighty unfortunate.” Heckyl agreed. “Where are you two,” he glanced down at Chase’s wolf-form and corrected himself, “three, headed?”

“The park.” Shelby answered and gave Chase a pat on the head. Shelby had none of the glorious skill Kendall or Riley possessed, but Chase appreciated her attempts. Mostly. He looked up at her and tried to convey that he wanted to leave and not chat with Heckyl. 

Shelby, apparently, didn’t read wolf expressions well. 

“Do you want to come with us?” Shelby offered kindly. 

Chase huffed a sigh and Heckyl looked at him curiously. “That sounds wonderful.” Heckyl answered. “How is Wolfie doing?” 

“Wolfie?” Shelby frowned at the name, but recovered when Ivan elbowed her. “Oh, Wolfie, he’s good. Just needs a walk.” She said with a bobbling nod. 

Chase needed to remember to kill Ivan for giving him such a stupid-ass name. He also hoped that Heckyl didn’t look too closely at his dog tags given they read ‘Chase’ and Heckyl seemed like a smart and weird guy. Chase was a little worried that somehow Heckyl would put two and two together. 

Heckyl seemed intrigued by the interaction, but didn’t question anything as they headed out of the museum. Like usual, Chase’s wolf-form got a few curious and fearful glances, but Chase had learned to ignore them. 

Heckyl seemed to notice the interaction. “Some of these hu-people seem to fear your animal.” He commented. 

Ivan glanced pointedly at Shelby. 

“Well,” Shelby shrugged a shoulder. “He looks like he’s part wolf and some people believe that wolves are far to dangerous to keep as pets.”

“And he isn’t part wolf?” Heckyl asked curiously. 

Shelby glanced down at Chase and bit her lip. “He might have a little wolf in him.” She said with a shrug, “but he’s a big softy.” 

Heckyl nodded and eyed Chase with curiosity as they finally made it outside. Chase ignored Heckyl after that. He ignored Ivan and Shelby as well. The fresh air was glorious and the sun was bright in the sky. He missed the feeling of it’s warm glow on his fur. Even more so on his skin. 

The conversation continued, but Chase didn’t pay attention to it. He let himself enjoy the small freedoms of being outside. 

“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Heckyl said when they arrived at the park. “Where is Chase? I noticed that he hasn’t been placed on the schedule for nearly a month.” 

Shelby glanced at Ivan before answering. “He’s on vacation.” She said simply. “He’ll be back soon.” 

“May I pet your dog?” Heckyl asked after another few moments ticked by. Shelby nodded and Chase felt like tripping her for her mistake. Heckyl knelt in front of Chase and rubbed his chest. His touches were strangely soothing and Chase hoped for a moment that he wouldn’t check the dog tag, but Chase caught Heckyl’s eyes drift to the name and he smiled brightly. 

Damn it all. 

Chase just hoped that Heckyl wasn’t a psycho doctor bent on curing him or killing him. 

“Well, hello there.” Heckyl said through a sharp, toothy smile. Chase locked his eye line and only after Heckyl nodded did he realize his mistake. A dog probably wouldn’t have done that. Maybe. Admittedly Chase hadn’t spent a whole lot of time around dogs. 

“Well, we really should be heading back.” Ivan insisted and Chase felt his heart sink a little as he thought about returning to the lab. He looked up at the sky longingly and caught a familiar scent on the air. With a flinch he took in a deeper breath and pulled a little at the leash as he investigated the scent. 

Shelby tugged, “Ch-Wolfie, the museum’s this way.” She said and blushed a little at her near-slip up. 

Chase glanced at her. If Heckyl had any doubts that he was right before, it was doubtful those doubts remained. 

With a whine-bark Chase tugged at the leash again, determined to investigate the scent he smelled. 

Shelby held him firm and tugged a little harder at the leash. “Heel!” She commanded sarcastically. 

Chase looked back at Shelby in an attempt to convey his annoyance before he pulled the leash free of her hands and bolted towards the tree line. 

“Chase!” Shelby shouted and then followed it up with, “Ivan chase him!” 

If Heckyl hadn’t guessed before, he definitely knew now, Chase thought with a low growl as he sniffed at the air and started to hunt the scent down. It took some doing, but Chase came upon what he had been looking for. A young girl who had fallen from her bike. She was crying as he emerged from the woods and looked up at him with fear. 

Chase switched his ears back and forth and noted that the little girl had scraped up her knee and her arm looked bent in a bad way. He lowered himself to his belly and turned and pawed at the air to show the little girl that he was friendly. She seemed to understand and gave him a small smile. 

“Hi,” the little girl whispered and held out her undamaged hand. Chase met her little fingers with his forehead and licked at her cheek. The little girl glanced at the collar and sniffled. “Chase.” She whispered. “Are you going to help me?” She asked worriedly. 

“So this is where you ran off too.” Heckyl’s voice said as he broke through the tree line. Chase frowned, he hadn’t heard the man running, but his focus had been on the little girl. “Are you alright, dearie?” Heckyl asked as he knelt by the little girl. 

“I crashed my bike,” the little girl sniffled and bit at her lip. “I hurt my arm and my leg.” 

“I can see that.” Heckyl said and glanced at Chase for a moment before he gathered the little girl up in his arms. “I suppose I should take you to a medical facility.” 

“What about Chase?” The little girl asked and glanced down at Chase’s wolf’s body. 

“He is an interesting factor.” Heckyl said. “I’m sure his friends will be here soon enough.” 

“Wolfie!” Shelby said correctly as she spotted Heckyl leading Chase out of the forest, the little girl curled in his arms. “What happened?” 

“This little one crashed her bike in the woods,” Heckyl explained, “Our animal friend here must have sniffed out the blood and hunted her down for a rescue.” 

Ivan joined them and gently took the little girl from Heckyl. “I will take the damsel to the hospital.” He vowed and nodded subtly to Chase before he headed off to do just that. 

Heckyl smoothed out his clothes and leveled a knowing look at Shelby. “So, do you want to explain how Chase was turned into this animal?” He asked casually. 

Shelby tensed and looked at Chase who looked up at her with a wolf-glare. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Shelby tried to blow Heckyl off. 

“Shelby, you can trust me, I promise I won’t tell a soul.” Heckyl vowed. 

Chase shivered a little, but Heckyl seemed sincere enough. He had helped the little girl. That had to mean something. Chase pushed down the wave of distrust and glanced at Shelby again and nodded. She looked down at Chase and sighed. 

“He was cursed when he was young.” Shelby explained. “He isn’t usually a wolf for this long though. We’re hoping it will eventually fix itself.” 

Simple and to the point, Chase could appreciate that even if the facts were a little wrong. 

“Fascinating.” Heckyl grinned and knelt next to Chase with a smirk that was difficult to read. “Well, rest assured your secret is safe with me.” 

__

“I never want to fly again.” Kendall said as they arrived back at the museum. It was late and everything was locked up. 

“I’m with you.” Riley agreed and stretched his achy body as they headed down to the lab. “I didn’t think a kid could scream for that long and survive.” 

“I think it was more than one.” Kendall huffed. “They were tag teaming during the entire flight.” 

“Well, it’s over now.” Riley grinned and glanced around the lab for Chase. He was in the corner of the lab in the center of the mountain of pillows Koda had arranged for his furry friend. Chase blinked up at them, clearly having been asleep. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to wake you.” Riley apologized and moved to kneel next to Chase and scratched him behind the ear in the place where Riley knew he liked it the best. 

“We have some news for you,” Kendall added as she set down her bags. “Are you awake enough to listen?” She asked as she joined Riley. Chase moved to sit up and nodded in his wolf-like way. “We met with the witch that cursed you and she told us she can’t separate you completely from the wolf, doing so would kill you.” 

Chase took a moment before he gave another bob of his head, signaling that he understood her. 

“She was able to create a potion to alter the curse,” Riley continued. “You would be in control of the transformation. You could change any time you wanted too.” 

“There might be some catches, though.” Kendall spoke carefully. “She said you may need to still turn during the full moon, but you don’t have to. If you don’t you may feel sick, but it shouldn’t be like what you’ve been suffering through. Chase – this is a good choice.” 

“You can be in control.” Riley pointed out when Chase didn’t react. 

Kendall sighed and nodded. “You don’t have to decide now, we have the potion and there’s no shelf-life. Sleep on it. The full moon starts tomorrow night. We can talk about it when you’re human again.” 

Riley’s heart sank a little as Chase finally nodded and curled up again, his back turned to them. Kendall placed her hand on Riley’s arm and they stood together. “It’s his choice.” She reminded him as they left the lab and went their separate ways. 

Although Riley knew that it was Chase’s choice, he selfishly wished he could make it for his boyfriend. He wondered what Chase would choose. 

More than that, Riley wondered what he would do if Chase decided not to take the potion.


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, the end of my longest ever fanfiction. I won't lie, I love this story and I was sorry to see it end. I may write a couple one shot/short stories in this AU, but I haven't dreamed up anything concrete. 
> 
> Enjoy the end and thanks for reading!

The transformation came and Chase was exhausted. Kendall and Riley were there throughout the process. Koda came and went with Tyler and Ivan. It was good to know his friends were close by. 

“How are you feeling?” Kendall asked as she offered Chase a damp washcloth. Chase took the offering and placed it on his face and enjoyed the cold feeling on his flushed skin. 

“Better.” Chase rasped. “It’s good to be human again.” He added as he clutched at his energem. “I’m never doing that again.” 

“I figured.” Kendall sighed. “I’m sorry, Chase, I didn’t think that would happen.” 

“I know.” Chase nodded and closed his eyes. “So, do you really think this potion is going to help me control this?” 

Kendall sighed. “I know you might find this hard to believe, but the woman who cursed you was very regretful over the entire thing. She wanted to help you and this was the best solution. That doesn’t mean you have to do this, though, not if you don’t want to. We can look into something else.”

Chase shook his head. “No, there’s nothing else.” He breathed. “Moana said that the witch that did this to me is the only one who has the ability to break the curse. If that woman said this is the only solution, I believe it. I also believe you. If you thought she was going to harm me further you wouldn’t have even told me about it.” 

It was kind of a big choice, but Chase knew he needed to make it before the full moon ended. There was still the chance that he might turn back into the wolf for another month. Chase didn’t want to live through that. 

“Where is it?” Chase asked Kendall as Riley joined them. 

“Where is what?” Riley asked worriedly. 

“The potion – thing.” Chase sighed and rubbed the cold cloth against his hot neck. “Let’s do this.” 

“You’ll take it?” Riley’s whole face lit up as he joined them. 

Chase nodded with a sigh. “With Snide around we can’t afford me being stuck as a wolf. I need to be able to fight. If this doesn’t work,” Chase took in a shaky breath and looked Kendall in the eyes, “you’re going to have to find a new black ranger.” 

All the glow that lit up Riley’s face faded at Chase’s words. The air seemed to be sucked from the room as the three of them stared at one another. 

“I’m sorry,” Chase said after the silence continued for too long. “I know it isn’t a fun subject, but it’s been on my mind since I got picked up by animal control. I can’t be a ranger if I’m stuck as the wolf.” 

Kendall nodded slowly as the shock soaked in. “It won’t come to that.” She promised. “I’ll go get the vial.” She added and looked at Riley with a worried glance. 

Chase rolled his eyes. “Look, I want this to work, but we have to be realistic.” He smiled although the expression was strained. “I thought the logic in you would appreciate my foresight.” 

“I would appreciate you being okay.” Riley whispered. 

“Oh, and fun fact,” Chase winced. “Heckyl knows that I’m a part-time wolf.” 

“What?” Kendall’s eyes narrowed sharply. “How did that happen?” 

“A mixture of Shelby and Ivan’s slip ups, among other things.” Chase shook his head and took the offered glass bottle. “So, any idea if this tastes bad?” He asked humorously as he uncapped the bottle and gave it a sniff. The contents smelled floral and not completely horrifying. 

“No idea.” Riley admitted as he sat back and watched Chase deliberate how he was going to drink the concoction. 

“Down the hatch,” Chase muttered and knocked back the entire bottle’s contents in one go. He made a face although it didn’t taste like anything special, more like mildly flavored water. 

Kendall and Riley held their breath as they watched Chase for the next several minutes. 

“You guys are making me nervous.” Chase finally said as he slowly got to his unsteady feet. “I doubt whatever this stuff is going to do is going to be immediate.” He added as he sat down on a stool next to the table. 

“What if it makes you sick?” Riley asked worriedly as he and Kendall hovered. 

“Did she say it would make me sick?” Chase asked with raised eyebrows. 

“Uh, not unless it’s the full moon or you become un-bonded to the energem.” Riley said worriedly. “Although she also said that might not happen.”

“She did say it might not work.” Kendall commented. “We probably should have asked a few more questions.” 

Chase frowned at them. “You didn’t grill her to death?” 

Kendall and Riley glanced at one another. “No? I mean, she seemed pretty sincere.” 

“Right.” Chase sighed and frowned down at his hands. “Whelp, I’m dead.” 

“Don’t say that.” Riley pleaded. “Are you okay? Do you feel sick?” 

“No.” Chase said and frowned at Riley. “On second thought, yes.” 

“What?” Kendall and Riley said together. 

“I’m sick of the hovering!” Chase grinned. “Seriously, it tasted like flavored water and I don’t feel anything other than a little stir crazy. I don’t suppose you asked how soon this stuff would kick in?” 

Kendall’s expression fell. It was as good as a verbal answer. 

“Well, that’s mildly disappointing.” Chase said and stood. “I’m going for a walk.” He announced and headed out of the lab. 

“Chase!” Riley trailed after him. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” 

“It’s a great idea.” Chase said and turned back to Riley. “I’ve been stuck as a wolf for a whole month. I want to feel the sun on my not-furry skin. Now, you can come along, but only if you stop hovering and if you give me a kiss.” 

Riley blinked at the sudden change, but grinned shyly before he kissed Chase on the lips and took his offered hand. “I’m sorry, I’m just worried.” 

“I got that.” Chase grinned. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I am going to face it if and when it happens, not before. If there’s a possibility that the potion is going to make me a wolf for the rest of my life I’m going to enjoy my last few moments as a human the way I want to.” 

“That won’t happen.” Riley whispered worriedly, his eyes tight with concern. 

“We don’t know what will happen.” Chase pointed out, “But I’m here and you’re here and for now, that’s all that matters to me.” 

Riley nodded and gripped Chase’s hand a little tighter. “Let’s go for that walk.” The green ranger said quietly. 

__

Four days later Chase was still human. He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at himself in his bathroom mirror in his apartment. He was still human and there had been no obvious side effects of the concoction the witch had made for him. 

Part of Chase was curious about testing the ability to shift into his wolf form at will, the rest of him was scared spit-less. If he tried and couldn’t do it he’d know for sure that the potion the witch gave Riley and Kendall didn’t work. 

For the moment he was just happy that he was human. At least until the next full moon. 

The door to the apartment opened and Chase froze a little. He gripped his energem and moved into the living area slowly. His heart rate started to slow when he saw it was Riley. 

“You look worried.” Riley mentioned as he hung his keys on the ring by the door. 

“I didn’t expect you back,” Chase said carefully. Riley was very aware that Chase still had nightmares over the whole Dr. Thomas incident, but they were far and few between now that they were living together. 

“Long story short, Kendall gave me the day off.” Riley smiled, although it looked more like a wince. “Apparently I was giving the customers at the café unnecessary attitude.” 

“Ah, and what brought on this ‘unnecessary’ attitude?” Chase asked with a raised eyebrow. 

“I guess I’m just over thinking things.” Riley sighed. 

Chase frowned at that. “Over thinking what?” 

“You.” Riley admitted with a sheepish look. “I’m worried that the potion didn’t work, or if it did you might lose control and not be able to control what shape your in.” 

“Riley,” Chase sighed and moved to sit with Riley on the couch. “My grandma used to tell me not to trouble, trouble until trouble troubles you. You can drive yourself mad trying to talk your way through every single possibility out there. I’m not worried, you know why?” 

“Why?” Riley asked sincerely. 

“Because I have you.” Chase smiled and pulled Riley in closer. “I have you and Kendall and everyone and I know you all will help me, no matter what happens.” 

“I just don’t want to lose you,” Riley whispered after a long moment. “I love you, Chase.” 

“And I love you,” Chase said and kissed Riley’s forehead. “I wish I could take your worry away.” He admitted, “but only you can decide how you feel.” 

“And here I thought I was the logical one.” Riley huffed playfully. 

Chase laughed and stood with a stretch. “I was just about to head to the skate park. Do you want to come along or do you want to stay and brood?” 

“Can I brood if I come with you?” Riley asked curiously. 

“Only if you make that cute little brooding face – yep, that’s the one.” Chase teased as he grabbed his skateboard and his helmet. 

“You suck.” Riley pouted. 

“Only if you want me too,” Chase winked and promptly dodged a pillow Riley threw from the couch.


End file.
